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OUR REPUBLIC 




From the painting by Gilbert Stuart, owned by the Boston Athenaeum 




OUR REPUBLIC 



A BRIEF HISTORY OF 
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE 



i/BY 

;. E. FORMAN 



AUTHOR OF "THE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY," "ADVANCED 
A3IERICAN HISTORY," ETC. 



1FUu6trate& 




.m 



NEW YORK 

THE CENTURY CO. 

1922 



El7* 
,F7Z- 



Copyright, 1922, by 
The Century Co. 



OCT 23 '22 



printed in U. S. A. 



©CU686463 



PREFACE 

In the making of our Republic the deeds of pioneers, farmers, 
inventors, teachers, captains of labor, captains of industry, have 
been quite as important as the deeds of warriors and statesmen. 
This history, therefore, is not one of the drum and trumpet kind, 
nor is it one in which the politician always holds the center of the 
stage. A large share of attention is given to the every-day life of 
the people ; to the movement which carried American civilization 
westward and built up a Union of States; to the growth of our 
industrial system; to the great inventions which have contributed 
so largely to our competency in material things. The treatment 
of topics bearing upon our economic development is unusually 
full for the reason that the economic factor in the history of a 
nation, especially in the history of the American nation, is a subject 
of transcendent importance. There is much in Bagehot's saying: 
"The selling of figs, the cobbling of shoes, the manufacture of 
nails — these are the essence of life." 

While preparing the book the author received from the officers 
of the Library of Congress courtesies for which he is deeply in- 
debted. 

S. E. Forman. 

Washington, D. C. 



CONTENTS 



i 

SPAIN IN AMEEICA 

PAGE 

The Finding of Strange Coasts 3 

The Gold Hunters of Spain and the Fishermen of France ... 6 

A Clash between Spain and France 8 

The Rise of England and the Decline of Spain , . 9 

II 
THE PLANTING OF THE COLONIES 

The Coming of the English, French and Dutch 13 

Pilgrims and Puritans 17 

The Neighbors of Virginia 22 

The Ousting of the Dutch: The Middle Colonies 24 

III 
COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

The Colonies at the Opening of the Eighteenth Century .... 30 

Pushing Back the Frontier Line 38 

The Struggle for a Continent 40 

Over the Mountains 46 

Conditions at the End of the Colonial Period 47 

IV 
THE REVOLUTION 

The Quarrel 53 

Blows and Separation 65 

The Struggle and the Victory 78 

V 
A SURVEY OF THE NATION IN 1783 

The Land and the People 93 

The Occupations of the People 95 

Means of Communication 98 

The Every-Day Life of the People 100 

VI 
A TIME OF GREAT DANGER 

State Constitutions and State Governments 109 

The Confederation Ill 

The Evil Days of the Confederation 114 

vii 



viii CONTENTS 

VII 
THE WORK OF THE FATHERS 

PAGE 

Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces 123 

Building a "New Roof" 127 

The Ratification of the Constitution 134 

VIII 
SETTING THE NEW GOVERNMENT IN MOTION 

The New President 139 

The New Organization . • 140 

Revenues and Expenditures 142 

Amendments: North Carolina and Rhode Island 144 

Hamilton's Financial Measures 145 

Federalists and Republicans 149 

IX 
TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 

The French Revolution 153 

War or Neutrality? 155 

The Whisky Rebellion 159 

A Westward-Moving People 160 

The Close of Washington 's Presidency 166 

"Adams and Liberty" 175 

Repressive War Measures 178 

The Federalist Party on a Downward Course 179 

X 

JEFFERSONIAN democracy 

Jefferson 's Inauguration 183 

Organization and Measures 187 

The Tripolitan War 190 

The Great Expansion 191 

The Federalists in Distress 195 

XI 

THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 

Depredations upon American Commerce 199 

The Impressment of Seamen 201 

Jefferson's Economic War 202 

Jefferson 's Retirement 205 

Drifting Towards War 207 

The War of 1812 210 

XII 
TWENTY YEARS OF WONDROUS GROWTH (1800-20) 

The Land Policy of the National Government 218 

Means of Communication 219 



CONTENTS ix 

PAGE 

Emigration and Immigration 222 

Along the Ohio River: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois 223 

Around the Gulf of Mexico: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, 

Florida 226 

Across the Mississippi 229 

The Significance of the Frontier 232 

XIII 
AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 

Peace and Isolation 235 

The Growth of American Nationality 237 

The Missouri Compromise 241 

The Acquisition of Florida 247 

The Monroe Doctrine 249 

Internal Improvements : The Tariff 254 

The End of Caucus Rule 256 

XIV 

THE JACKSONIAN ERA 

Jackson the Man 261 

Jackson's Campaign Against Adams 263 

Jackson and the Offices 268 

Jackson and Nullification 270 

Jackson and the Bank 284 

The Administration of Martin Van Buren 288 

XV 

INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 

Highways, Canals and Railroads 295 

Filling up the West 301 

Industrial and Commercial Progress 305 

Education and Literature 308 

Social Betterment 312 

The Abolition Movement 315 

XVI 

"MANIFEST DESTINY" 

Tyler and the Whigs 321 

The Texan Question 324 

The Oregon Question 328 

The Acquisition of California and New Mexico 331 

XVII 

« < THE ROARING FORTIES ' » 

Great Inventions 340 

Cheap Lands and Immigration 345 



x CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Old Northwest and the New Northwest 347 

Along the Pacific Coast 351 

New Mexico; Utah 355 

An Issue Avoided 358 

XVIII 

ASPECTS OF SLAVEEY 

The Slaveholders; the Poor Whites 363 

Free Negroes 365 

The Legal Status of the Slave 367 

Conditions of Slave Life 369 

The Morals of Slavery 374 

The Economic and Business Aspects of Slavery 376 

XIX 

SLAVEEY AN OVERSHADOWING ISSUE 

"Five Bleeding Wounds" 378 

The Compromise of 1850 381 

Resistance and Acquiescence 385 

The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise 388 

XX 

THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 

The Beginning of the Republican Party 394 

"Bleeding Kansas" 395 

The Dred Scott Decision 400 

The Lecompton Constitution 402 

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 403 

A Raid and a Book 407 

The Election of 1860 408 

XXI 

PROGRESS IN THE FIFTIES 

The Trunk Lines; the Merchant Marine 413 

The Westward Movement in the Fifties 416 

Commercial and Industrial Growth 419 

The Growth of Cities 421 

Every-Day Life 423 

XXII 

THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT CONFLICT 

Secession; Efforts at Compromise 427 

The Call to Arms 434 

The First Clashes 448 

Foreign Complications 450 



CONTENTS xi 

XXIII 
THE CIVIL WAB 

PAGE 

The Assembling of the Hosts 456 

The War in the West in 1862 . 459 

The War in the East in 1862 462 

Emancipation 467 

The War in 1863 471 

The Close of the Struggle 476 

XXIV 

WAE TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 

Keeping the Ranks Filled 483 

Industrial and Social Conditions 490 

War-Time Politics 497 

XXV 

BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 

Lincoln's Policy of Reconstruction 506 

Johnson 's Efforts at Reconstruction 508 

The Congressional Plan of Reconstruction 513 

The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson 521 

Foreign Affairs in Reconstruction Times 524 

Reconstruction Politics 526 

President Grant and Reconstruction 528 

XXVI 

STARTING ANEW 

The Prostrate South and the Prosperous North 534 

The West in the Sixties 536 

Prosperity and Reverses 542 

New Problems 545 

XXVII 

WHEN GRANT WAS PRESIDENT 

International Matters 550 

Setting the Financial House in Order 553 

Corruption in High Places 556 

The Election of 1876 562 

XXVIII 

PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 

Hayes; Garfield; Arthur 568 

Industrial Progress, 1877-85 575 

The Democrats Return to Power 584 



xii CONTENTS 

XXIX 
THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ORDER 

PAGE 

Cleveland at the Helm 588 

Consolidation and Concentration » 592 

The Regulation of the Railroads 603 

Industrial Unrest 606 

A Great Tariff Battle 609 

XXX 

THE NEW WEST; THE TARIFF AND THE TRUSTS 

The Second Harrison 614 

" A Spirited Foreign Policy " 617 

The New West 621 

Politics and Legislation 626 

The Presidential Election of 1892 636 

XXXI 
A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT : 1893-97 

The World's Columbian Exposition 642 

A Hard Blow at Silver 643 

The Panic of 1893; Popular Unrest 648 

Hawaii; Venezuela 653 

The Wilson Tariff 658 

1896 662 

XXXII 
TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 

The Dingley Bill 674 

The War with Spain 677 

The Fruits of the Spanish-American War 683 

Expansion and the Open Door 690 

The Gold-Standard Act 693 

Reelection of McKinley; His Death 695 

XXXIII 
THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 

Roosevelt and the Trusts 701 

Roosevelt and the Coal Strike 706 

Tin: Panama Canal; Foreign Affairs 708 

Roosevelt's "Second Election" 714 

Roosevelt's "Second Term" 717 

The Election of 1908 722 

XXXIV 
A PROGRESSIVE ERA 

Progress in Social Matters 729 

Tiik Renascence of Democracy 734 



CONTENTS xiii 

PAGE 

The Taft Administration 740 

Armageddon • . . 749 

Progressive Legislation 755 

XXXV 

THE GEEAT WAE 

A Policy of Peace and Neutrality 764 

America Enters the War 777 

Carrying on the War 786 

XXXVI 

AFTEE THE WAE 

Making a Peace 798 

Eeconstruction 800 

The Harding Administration 806 

Eeading List 811 

The Constitution of the United States 814 

Index ., ,., L „ .., . 829 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

George Washington Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

The Puritan 16 

William Penn 33 

La Salle Taking Possession of Louisiana 49 

Samuel Adams 56 

A Cartoon of 1774: Bostonians Pay the Excise Man or Tarring and 

Feathering 64 

Benjamin Franklin 80 

America's First National Capitol 129 

Alexander Hamilton 144 

Thomas Jefferson 184 

Moving Out West 225 

John Marshall 240 

Andrew Jackson 264 

The Marriage of the Great Lakes and the Atlantic 296 

A Cartoon of 1849: The Independent Gold Hunter on the Way to Cali- 
fornia 353 

The Plantation Preacher 368 

Daniel Webster 380 

John C. Calhoun 380 

Henry Clay 380 

A Cartoon of 1860: The National Game. Three "Outs" and One "Eun'' 408 

The Development of Bailway Transportation 417 

Abraham Lincoln 432 

Bobert E. Lee 464 

Ulysses S. Grant 481 

Woman's Work in the Civil War 496 

East and West United 540 

Caricaturing the Scene on the New York Stock Exchange on Black Friday 552 

Thomas A. Edison 577 

A New York Skyscraper Scene 592 

A Cartoon of 1888: Free Trade and Protection ........ 612 

Grover Cleveland 648 

The Panama Canal 708 

Theodore Roosevelt 717 

Woodrow Wilson 760 

xv 



MAPS 

PAQB 

First Voyage of Columbus 4 

Explorations of Ponee cle Leon, De Soto, and Coronado 7 

Jamestown and Vicinity 14 

Settlements Around Massachusetts Bay 18 

Connecticut and Rhode Island 20 

Along the Carolina Coast 23 

Delaware River and Delaware Bay 25 

The Frontier Line in 1700 31 

Spottswood's Route: The First Road to the West 39 

The Frontier Line in 1740 42 

Scene of the French and Indian War 44 

Early Kentucky and Tennessee 47 

Boston and Vicinity 70 

Washington's Movements in 1776 79 

Washington's Movements in 1777 82 

Burgoyne 's Invasion of New York and Scene of Border Warfare ... 84 

The Revolutionary War as Fought in the South 89 

The United States in 1783 93 

Early Ohio 163 

Boundaries Established by the Treaty of Greenville 165 

The United States in 1800 181 

The United States After the Louisiana Purchase 194 

Scene of the War of 1812 212 

Routes to the West During the Turnpike Era (1800-1825) .... 220 

Along the Ohio River: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois 224 

Around the Gulf of Mexico 228 

The Oregon Country 230 

The United States in 1820 232 

The Result of the Missouri Compromise 245 

The United States in 1840 296 

The National Road 297 

Krie Canal, Pennsylvania Canal, and Baltimore and Ohio Railway . . 300 

Navigable Rivers about 1820 303 

xvi 



MAPS xvii 

PAGE 

Map of the War with Mexico :.: ,. w m ....... 335 

The Westward Extension 338 

The United States in 1850 , . . 347 

Along the Upper Mississippi and Around the Great Lakes .... 348 

The Santa Fe and Oregon Trails to the Pacific Coast 354 

Eesults upon Slavery of the Compromise of 1850 384 

Scene of the Struggle in Kansas 397 

Transportation between the East and West after the Building of the 

Trunk Lines 414 

Center of Population 419 

Charleston Harbor 445 

Territory Held by the Confederates at the Close of 1861 457 

The War in the West 461 

Territory Held by the Confederates at the Close of 1862 466 

The War in the East 472 

Territory Held by the Confederates at the Close of 1863 475 

Territory Held by the Confederates at the Close of 1864 480 

The United States in 1867 524 

The West in the Sixties 538 

The Presidential Election of 1896 — the Solid States Gave Democratic 

Pluralities 670 

The Philippines 681 

Map Showing the Location of the Irrigation Projects of the United 

States Government 720 

Map Showing Where the Americans Fought 791 

The Yearly Flow of the Immigration Tide since 1820 800 



OUR REPUBLIC 



OUR REPUBLIC 

i 

SPAIN IN AMERICA 

AT the opening of the fifteenth century geographical knowledge 
was confined chiefly to Europe, southern and middle Asia, and 
northern Africa. The fifteenth century, however, was not far ad- 
vanced when a remarkable impulse to exploration began to show 
itself. Bold snirits sailed farther and farther out upon unknown 
seas and penetrated deeper and deeper into unknown lands, with 
the result that by the end of the century the boundaries of geo- 
graphical knowledge had been extended so far as to include all the 
continents of the earth. 

The Finding op Strange Coasts 

The impulse which prompted Europeans in the later years of a,^^ h u e rks 
the fifteenth century to go out upon unknown waters and explore £™t|; 8 
strange lands was born of commercial necessity. About 1450 the 
trade which Venice, Genoa, and other Mediterranean cities were 
carrying on with the Orient began to suffer because of the inter- 
ference of the Ottoman Turks, who, having begun to overrun Asia 
Minor in the fourteenth century, did not halt in their career of 
conquest until they had spread their power over all the countries 
bordering upon the Black Sea and the eastern edge of the Medi- 
terranean. In 1453 they captured Constantinople and, pushing 
their conquests southward, they rapidly brought all Syria and 
Egypt under their sway. Wherever the Turks planted their power 
they erected barriers to commerce. They stood in the overland 
routes that led from the Mediterranean to the Orient and would not 
allow the merchants to pass. They imposed such heavy tolls upon 
goods moving upon the Nile and the Red Sea as to render trade by 
this route unprofitable. By the opening of the sixteenth century 

3 



SPAIN IN AMERICA 



CHAP. 
I 



they had made it almost impossible for trade to move by the old 
routes between Europe and the Far East. 

No sooner, however, were the old routes to the Orient blocked 
than an eager search for new routes began. This was to be expected, 
for the movements of trade are well-nigh irresistible. If commerce 
cannot surmount barriers it will go around them. In the race to 
reach the Orient by a new route Portugal took the lead. By 1471 
Portuguese sailors had followed the African coast beyond the 
equator, and by 1487 Bartholomeu Dias had pushed as far south as 
the Cape of Good Hope. In 1497 Vasco da Gama sailed for India 




*5K2K*~\Sr Co/um£o 




The First Voyage of Columbus 



in the path marked out by Dias, and the next year entered the 
harbor of Calicut. He returned to Lisbon bringing with him a 
cargo of nutmegs, cloves, pepper, rubies, emeralds, silks, and satins. 
Thus Portugal found a new route to the Indies and trade between 
Europe and the Orient was reestablished. 

While the Portuguese sailors were creeping down the African 
coast, Christopher Columbus was planning to reach India by sailing 
directly westward across the Atlantic. In August, 1492, under 
the auspices of Spain, he sailed westward from Palos, and on 
October 12 he landed on a little island (possibly San Salvador) of 
the Bahama group. After skirting the coast of Cuba and landing 
at Haiti, he returned to Spain (March, 1493) with the startling 
announcement that he had reached the coast of India by a westward 
route. This was glorious news for Spain, for it now seemed that 



THE FINDING OF STRANGE COASTS 5 

the trade of the Orient, the great prize for which the commercial chap. 

world was contending, would be carried in Spanish bottoms and 

landed at Spanish ports, and that the enormous profits of this trade 
would go into the coffers of Spanish merchants. 

Columbus followed up his first voyage with three others. On 
his third voyage (begun in 1498) he reached the mainland of South 
America. On his last voyage he skirted the coast of Central 
America. These strange coasts he was sure belonged to Asia. That 
they were portions of a continent the existence of which was un- 
known to Europeans, or that he had discovered a New World, seems 
never to have occurred to the great discoverer himself or to any of 
his contemporaries. 

Englishmen were not slow in finding their way to the strange JohnCabot 
coasts which were discovered by Columbus and which were thought 
to be the gateway to the riches of India. In May, 1497, John Cabot 
under the auspices of the English king Henry VII, set sail from 
Bristol and in June "discovered that land which no man before 
that time had attempted. ' ' * The place of Cabot 's landing cannot 
be precisely located, but it was on the coast of North America 
somewhere between southern Labrador and Halifax. Cabot thought 
he had landed on the coast of China, for like Columbus he was 
searching for the eastern coast of Asia, and like Columbus he 
thought he had found the object of his quest. Cabot claimed the 
"new-found-land" for England, and this claim became the founda- 
tion-stone of the English power in the New World. 

That Cabot was the first of the great navigators to reach the Americus 

Vespucius 

American mainland is a matter of dispute. Some historians contend 
that Americus Vespucius, a native of Florence, Italy, sailed from 
Cadiz in May, 1497, and, having crossed the Atlantic, landed on the 
coast of Honduras a few days before it had been reached by Colum- 

1 For a long time it was believed that the North American coast was dis- 
covered centuries before this voyage of Cabot. According to the sagas, or 
Scandinavian legends, a sea-rover named Leif Ericson sailed from Iceland 
about the year 1000, and, steering in a southwesterly direction, explored the 
American coast as far south as New England. Leif is said to have landed 
somewhere on the coast of what is now Massachusetts or Rhode Island, where 
he made a settlement called Vinland, but historians are unable to decide where 
this Vinland really was. Indeed, many historians no longer believe the story 
of Leif Ericson and the settlement of Vinland at all, for they doubt the truth 
of the sagas upon which the story rests. Even if the voyage of Leif was 
actually made, it is likely that all memory of it had faded from men's minds 
by the time of Columbus. 



6 SPAIN IN AMERICA 

bus. Whether this contention is true or not, it is certain that 
Vespucius was among the first who made voyages to the newly 
found world. It is also certain that it was from him that the New 
World took its name. The naming of America was accomplished 
in a roundabout way and without the knowledge of Vespucius him- 
self. In 1504 Vespucius wrote an account of his voyage to the newly 
found world, and his narrative fell into the hands of Martin 
Waldseemuller, a professor of geography in the College of St. Die 
in Lorraine. In 1507 Waldseemuller published a geography in 
which he suggested that the New World be given the name America. 
The suggestion of the geographer was followed. Waldseemuller 
intended that only Brazil — the region described by Vespucius in 
his narrative — should be called America, but the name spread 
northward and southward and in time the whole western continent 
came to be called. America. Thus it was an Italian that discovered 
the Western world, an Italian that first reached its mainland, and 
an Italian that gave it its name. 

The interference of the Turks with the trade of the Orient in- 
fluenced profoundly the course of human history. In the first 
place, it caused commerce to flow in new channels and directed it 
to new centers. The voyage of da Gama marked the beginning of 
a movement that was to take the best trade of the world from the 
cities of the Mediterranean and give it to the cities of northern 
and western Europe. After that voyage Venice and Genoa declined, 
while Lisbon and Antwerp and London prospered as never before. 
In the second place, the conduct of the Turks caused navigators of 
Europe to go out and find strange coasts in all quarters of the globe. 
Before the close of the fifteenth century Portuguese captains sailing 
southward had explored the west coast of Africa throughout its 
entire length, while Columbus and Cabot had explored the eastern 
coast of the Western continent from the frozen shores of Labridor 
to the region of the Orinoco River. 

The Gold Hunters op Spain and the Fishermen op France 



There was no rush of emigrants to the region discovered by 
Columbus and Cabot. There was no overcrowding in Europe as yet, 
and there was no good reason why the comforts of civilized life 
should be exchanged for a wretched existence in a far-off desolate 
land. Nevertheless, Europeans in small numbers began to go out 



GOLD HUNTERS OF SPAIN— FISHERMEN OF FRANCE 7 



to the New World almost as soon as it was discovered. The first to 
go were Spanish adventurers who followed in the wake of Columbus. 
Some of these promptly took up the hard work of colonization. 
Haiti was settled first and as early as 1496 Santo Domingo, the 
first town inhabited by white men in the New World, was founded. 
The settlement of Porto Rico was also quickly begun, and by 1510 
the island had a regularly organized colonial government. In 1511 
the colonization of Cuba began, and by 1519 the foundations of 



CHAP. 

i 




Explorations of Ponce de Leon, De Soto, and Coronado 

Havana were laid. Thus an almost immediate result of the voyages 
of Columbus was the firm establishment of the Spanish power in 
the West Indies. 

But the boldest of the early Spanish adventurers went to the Spanish 
New World not to found colonies but to search for gold. Finding Huntera 
no gold along the coast, the soldiers of fortune left their ships and 
struck out into the wilderness. It was while searching for gold 
that Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean (1513) ; that Ponce de 
Leon came upon Florida (1513) ; that De Soto found himself upon 
the banks of the Mississippi River (1541) ; that Coronado was led to 
traverse the wilds of what is now New Mexico and Kansas. These 
adventurers found little gold, but they greatly enriched geographi- 
cal knowledge and widely extended the Spanish power in the New 



8 



SPAIN IN AMERICA 



"World. By virtue of their explorations Spain laid claim to a large 
part of North America. These gold hunters, however, found that 
riches lay at the south. Here they were successful beyond the 
dreams of avarice. In 1519 Cortes conquered Mexico and about ten 
years later Pizarro overran Peru. These men became masters of 
untold wealth and their conquests made Spain not only the richest 
nation in the world but also the mistress of Mexico, Central, 
America, the greater part of South America, and the greater part 
of North America. Indeed, by the middle of the sixteenth century 
Spain was the virtual possessor of every part of the Western World 
from Patagonia to Labrador excepting only Brazil, which belonged 
to Portugal. 1 

While Spaniards were exploiting the southern part of America 
for its gold, Frenchmen were exploiting the northern part for its 
fish. As early as. 1504 fishermen began to go out from the ports of 
Dieppe and St. Malo to Newfoundland, and by 1522 there had been 
built along the coast of that island as many as forty or fifty huts 
for the accommodation of French fishermen. These rude fisher- 
men's huts were perhaps the first structures erected by white men 
in North America. 

A Clash Between Spain and France 



France soon began to think of doing something more in America 
than merely catching fish. In 1534, Francis I, king of France, 
denying the validity of the claims of Spain to North America, sent 
out Jacques Cartier to make explorations in the region of the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence. Cartier found the country full of all sorts of 
goodly trees, oaks, elms, cedars, firs, and willows. "The forests," 
he said, "were full of fur-bearing animals; hares, martens, foxes, 
beavers, otters; and the rivers were the plentifullcst of fish that 
any man ever hath seen or heard of. ' ' In 1540 Cartier attempted 
to establish a French colony on the banks of the St. Lawrence, but 
disease soon swept away most of the colonists and the colony was 
broken up. 

1 In 1494, in accordance with the wishes of Pope Alexander VI, the king 
of Spain and the king of Portugal made a treaty which provided that a 
meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands should be a "line of 
demarcation" and that all heathen lands west of this line should belong to 
Spain ; Brazil, therefore, was claimed by Portugal on the ground that it was 
east of the line of demarcation. 



RISE OF ENGLAND AND THE DECLINE OF SPAIN 9 

About thirty years after the voyages of Cartier French Protes- chap. 

tants — Huguenots, they were called — made a settlement at the 

mouth of the St. John's River in Florida, calling it Fort Carolina. Huluenot 
In the mind of the Spanish monarch there were several good reasons Color, y 
why the Huguenot colony should be destroyed. In the first place, 
the colonists were trespassing upon land which Spain claimed as her 
own. In the second place, the Huguenots were enemies of the 
Catholic religion, the faith to which the Spanish king belonged 
and of which he was the most distinguished champion. Then, too, 
the Spaniards regarded the settlement at Fort Carolina as a nest 
of pirates. For about this time French cruisers were in the habit 
of scouring the seas and capturing Spanish vessels. In 1555 French 
bucaneers plundered Havana, burned the town, and put many of 
its inhabitants to death. The Spanish monarch, accordingly, could 
proceed against the trespassing Huguenots with right good will. 
He sent a great force of ships and men against the French settle- 
ment, and Fort Carolina was wiped from the face of the earth. 

Thus France and Spain were the first nations to quarrel about 
the possession of territory in the New World and in the clash which 
followed Spain came out as the victor. After the destruction of 
Fort Carolina the French made no further attempts to gain a 
foothold on the southern part of the Atlantic seaboard. Spain was 
left, for the time, in undisputed possession of the coast from Florida 
to Labrador. 

The Rise of England and the Decline of Spain 

But another nation was gathering strength and power to contend The 
with Spain and the rest of the world for the mastery of the Navy 
American coast. This rising nation was England. At the opening 
of the sixteenth century England was a weak and backward coun- 
try. Her population was small, her commerce and industries were 
unimportant, and she was weak on the seas. But before the century 
was well advanced England as a nation was growing stronger. Her 
industries were increasing, her commerce was expanding, her middle 
class was growing rapidly in wealth and numbers. Above all, she 
was adding strength to her navy, building her ships larger, arming 
them with more powerful guns, and manning them with more skilful 
crews. By the middle of the century she had trained a race of bold 
and hardy seamen to whom "no land was uninhabitable and no sea 
unnavigable. ' ' 



10 



SPAIN IN AMERICA 



Hawkins 

and 

Drake 



No sooner had England built up her navy than her seamen began 
to push out for trade and for plunder. In 1562 John Hawkins 
sailed from the Guinea coast to the West Indies with a cargo of 
negroes who had been captured in the wilds of Africa. The negroes 
were sold as slaves to Spanish settlers in Haiti. This voyage of 
Hawkins led to a clash with Spain and marked the beginning of 
one of the most momentous conflicts in the history of the world. 
Spain, desiring all the trade of the West Indies for herself, forbade 
outsiders to trade in the islands on the pain of death. England 
answered this prohibition by letting loose in the West Indies a 
swarm of ruthless bucaneers who plundered Spanish coasts and 
robbed Spanish vessels wherever they could find them. The leader 
of these sea-dogs was Francis Drake. This greatest of all English 
seamen hated Spain with his whole heart and devoted his whole 
life to inflicting injury upon the Spanish nation. In the pursuit 
of his vengeance Drake was relentless, being held back neither by 
twinges of conscience nor by fear nor by bodily pain. By 1580 this 
terrible corsair and his companions had rained upon Spain so 
man}' heavy blows that the Spanish ambassador to the English 
court protested and threatened that if the outrages of English free- 
booters did not cease "matters would come to the cannon." 

And soon matters did come to the cannon. In 1588 the Spanish 
king, Philip II, began to collect a large army and prepare an 
immense fleet for the invasion of England and its complete subju- 
gation. Elizabeth and her statesmen made every effort for defense 
and when Philip's great fleet — the Invincible Armada — sailed into 
the English Channel it met the full strength of the English navy. 
The English felt they were fighting for their honor, their country, 
and their firesides and they went at the Spanish in a life-and-death 
struggle. The battle ended in a tremendous victory for the Eng- 
lish. Many of the Spanish ships were sunk and many that escaped 
were soon destroyed by a terrible storm. This battle was a decisive 
event, not only in the life of the English nation, but in the history 
of the world as well. The defeat of the Armada led rapidly to the 
decline of Spain and gave England what she never before had 
had — a place among the leading nations of the world. 



CHRONOLOGY 11 



NOTES AND CHRONOLOGY 

[This matter is indexed. It does not include dates given or subjects treated 
in the main body of the text.] 

1460 Henry the Navigator explores the African coast. 
1485 Caxton sets up a printing-press in England. 
Henry VII becomes king of England. 

1492 Conquest of Granada by Spain and disappearance of the Moorish power. 

1493 Spanish colony at Hispaniola founded. 

1497-1503 Voyages of Americus Vespucius to South America. 

1500 Cabral reaches the coast of Brazil. 

Cortereal, a Portuguese navigator, explores Newfoundland. 

1502 Fourth voyage of Columbus. 

150G Columbus dies at Valladolid. 

1509 Henry VIII becomes king of England. 

1516 "Utopia," by Sir Thomas More, is published. 

1519-22 Magellan's voyage. (Magellan, a Portuguese captain in the service 
of Spain, starting from St. Lucar in Spain in 1519, sailed along 
the eastern coast of South America, passed through the strait which 
bears his name, and crossed the Pacific, making his way to the 
Philippine Islands, where he was killed by the natives. His com- 
panions continued the voyage around the Cape of Good Hope to 
Spain, thus completing in .1522 the first circumnavigation of the 
world. ) 

1524 Verrazano explores the coast of North America. 

1528 Narvaez explores the Gulf region. 

1533 Pizarro completes conquest of Peru. 
Ignatius Loyola founds the Jesuit order. 

1534 England throws off the papal authority. 

1535 Jacques Cartier ascends the St. Lawrence River. 

Henry VIII assumes the title of supreme head of the church. 
1542 Henry VIII assumes the title of king of Ireland. 
1547 Edward VI becomes king of England. 
1553 Mary becomes queen of England. 

1558 Elizabeth becomes queen of England. 

1559 Protestantism established in England by Act of Uniformity and 

Supremacy. 
1562 Huguenot wars begin. 

1564 Laudonniere founds a colony in Florida. 

1565 Menendez founds St. Augustine. 

1576 Frobisher begins search for a Northwest passage. 

1577-79 Drake's voyage. (In 1577 Francis Drake with five small vessels 
embarked from England on a buccaneering expedition to the Pa- 
cific through the Straits of Magellan. Having obtained immense 
treasure by plunder on the coasts of Chili and Peru he sailed 
north as far as California where he landed and took possession of 
the country in the name of Queen Elizabeth, calling it New 
Albion. From California he steered across the Pacific to the 
Moluccas and returned to England by way of the Cape of Good 
Hope in 1579. This was the first time the globe was circumnavi- 
gated by an Englishman.) 

1580 Tobacco first brought to England. 



12 SPAIN IN AMERICA 

1582 Santa F6 is founded. 

1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert attempts to colonize Newfoundland. 
1585 Raleigh makes an unsuccessful settlement on Roanoke Island. 

1587 Virginia Dare, the first white child of English parents, is born in 

America. 
159G Cadiz attacked and the Spanish fleet destroyed by the English. 

Suggested Readings ' 

The Renaissance : Adams, pp. 364-391 ; also Green, pp. 302-310. 

Medieval trade routes : Cheyney, pp. 22-26. 

Henry the Navigator : Cheyney, pp. 60-78. 

The Reformation : Adams, G. B., pp. 416-442. 

The naming of America : Bourne, pp. 84-103. 

Spanish discovery of the Mississippi : Ogg, pp. 8-44. 

The voyages of the Cabots : Bourne, pp. 54-61. 

The English seamen : Channing, Vol. I, pp. 115-142. 

Queen Elizabeth : Green, pp. 369-379. 

The Armada : Green, pp. 405-420. 

1 For the full names of the authors and the full titles of the books see Read- 
ing List, p. — , where the names of the authors are arranged in alphabetical 
order. 



II 

THE PLANTING OF THE COLONIES 
The Coming of the English, French, and Dutch 

NOW that the navy of Spain was no longer an object of terror, 
the eastern seaboard of North America was free to be occupied 
by any nation that would seize upon it. The only visible sign of 
Spanish power in North America was the town of St. Augustine,s 
which stood on the lonely Florida coast. From the St. John's Kiver 
in Florida to Labrador the land was open to colonization. The 
maritime countries of Europe saw their opportunity, and early in 
the seventeenth century three nations, England, France, and Hol- 
land, almost at the same moment rushed forward to secure a per- 
manent foothold on the American continent. 

In the race for empire in North America the English led the way. why 

. England 

There were strong r easo ns why England at the end of the sixteenth was Eager 

. " , to Plant 

and at the opening of the seventeenth century should be eager to colonies 
plant colonies in America. At this time there was much discontent 1 
among the masses in England. Landholders had been giving their 
lands over to the pasturing _of sheep rather than to the raising of 
grain, with the result that thousands of farm laborers were thrown 
out of employment. The unemployed had found their way in large 
numbers to the cities, where they were living in idleness and beg-'v- 
gary. There was thus a large unemployed class that was only too 
willing to go to America in order to escape poverty and suffering 
at home. Furthermore, by 1600, there had been accumulated in^ 
England a surplus of capital. Bankers and merchants had money 
to invest in new enterprises. This condition was highly favorable 
to schemes of colonization, for it required large sums of money to 
fit out a colony with needed supplies, transport it to a far-off land, 
and support it until it could support itself. But the sharpest spur 
to colonization was the hope that by means of her colonies England 
would be able to increase her trade. English wares, it was thought, 
could be exchanged in the colonies for raw material, for lumber 
and iron and copper, and England would no longer be compelled to 

13 



1-4 



THE PLANTING OF THE COLONIES 



(ii,\r. 
II 



The 

Beginnings 
of English 
Coloniza- 
tion 



A Business 
\ enture 



buy these things at a high price from the countries of Europe. Thus 
when the seventeenth century opened conditions in England were 
extremely favorable to colonization : hordes of laborers were seeking 
employment ; a surplus of capital was seeking investment in new 
enterprises; and an expanding industry was seeking a market in 
foreign parts. 

The first efforts of England to plant colonies in America were 
made even before the power of Spain was broken. In 1583 Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert landed a body of settlers on the coast of New- 
foundland, but the enterprise ended in failure. The work begun 
by Gilbert was quickly taken up by Sir Walter Raleigh, who labored 

for years to plant a 
permanent colony on 
the shores of what is 
now North Carolina. 
But Raleigh's men did 
not know how to live 
amid the primitive con- 
ditions of a barbarous 
land, and his colony per- 
ished. Others took up 
the work begun by 
Raleigh and carried it to 
success. In 1606 a com- 
pany of prosperous 
Englishmen, residents 
of London, obtained 




Jamestown and Vicinity 



from King James I permission to plant colonies on the American 
coast between Cape Fear River and Halifax, and in the following 
year they sent out to America about one hundred colonists who 
settled on an island a few miles from the mouth of a river which 
flows into the Chesapeake Bay and founded a colony which they 
called Jamestown. This settlement was the beginning of the 
State of Virginia and was the germ of the American nation. 

The planting of the Virginia colony was a b usiness ve nture pure 
and simple. The land was to be owned by the, company which 
secured the charter. Every colonist was to be a toiler and was to 
work at the task assigned him. The products of the labor of all 
were to be thrown into a common stock, out of which the colonists 
were to be fed and supported. If after the needs of the settlers 



COMING OF THE ENGLISH, FRENCH, AND DUTCH 15 

were supplied there should be a surplus it was to be sent to England c HAP - 

in the company's vessels and sold, the proceeds going into the 

treasury of the company. The colony, therefore, was planted 
primarily not for the benefit of those who went over the seas, but 
for the benefit of those who remained in London. 

The colonists at Jamestown suffered unspeakable hardships, and Tobac co 
there were times when it seemed that the little settlement would 
perish. But the colony managed to survive, and before many years 
had passed it was standing firmly on its feet, gaining in wealth 
and population. Its chief resource was tobacco. This was raised 
to the exclusion of all other crops and furnished a marketable 
staple of vast importance in the upbuilding of Virginia. 

The widespread cultivation of tobacco created such a brisk yirlma" 
demand for workers that the planters had recourse to the labor of 
negro servants. The first negroes that came to Virginia were 
twenty that were brought on a Dutch man-of-war in 1619. These 
negroes were held in a condition of temporary servitude, as many 
white men were held. For among the white population of early 
Virginia there was a class of "indented servants" who had sold 
themselves of their own free will to a_shipmaster or a planter for a 
term of years, with the stipulation that when the term was com- 
pleted they should regain their freedom. At first negroes were 
brought to Virginia only in small numbers, but in the course of 
years the blacks of the colony became so numerous as to present a 
very serious labor problem, which was solved by changing the 
negroes' condition of temporary servitude to one of absolute slavery. 

The government of Virginia at first was organized after the Early 

. Govem- 

fashion of a despotism. Supreme authority over the colony was mem in 

— . . ; Virginia 

placed in the hands of a general council which was to reside m 
London. The general council was appointed by the king and 
subject to his instructions. A second council also appointed by 
the king and subject to his instructions resided in the colony and 
had the direct management of public affairs. Thus the government 
was so planned that all power flowed from the king. But as the 
colony grew in numbers it acquired for itself more of the powers 
of a self-governing community. In 1619 delegates from the various 
settlements which had sprung up were elected to a general assem- 
bly, which sat as a law-making body. The proceedings of this 
a'ssembly were the beginnings of representative government in the 
New World. In 1624 all political control over the colony was 



16 THE PLANTING OF THE COLONIES 

chap, taken from the company and given to the king. Virginia thus 
became a royal province. The king retained for himself the 
power of appointing the colonial governor and the colonial 
council, but the colony was allowed to retain its elective general 
assembly as its law-making body. Under the new order of things 
Virginia was no longer a mere group of distant colonists laboring 
for the benefit of a trading corporation in London : it was a 
political community endowed with large powers of local self-govern- 
ment. It was a state in embryo. 

champiain By the time the English had established themselves on the banks 

and the J 

French f the James the French had established themselves on the St. 
Lawrence. For in the very next year after the founding of James- 
town Samuel de Champiain had planted the French flag on the 
bold headland of Quebec and there had laid the foundations of a 
town which was given that name. From Quebec Champiain pushed 
his explorations in almost every direction, and before he died (in 
1635) he had established the French power throughout Canada and 
had planted the flag of his country even in the far-off wilds of 
Michigan and "Wisconsin. 

The French power was thus spread over a vast extent of terri- 
tory, but it was spread very thin. French dominion in America 
was never rooted firmly in the earth. The English in Virginia 
looked to the soil as the source of their fortune, while the French 
in Canada avoided the hard labor of the farm and gave all their 
energies to the fur trade. This trade yielded large profits, but it 
could not lead to the building up of a strong and populous empire. 
Quebec in 1629 — more than twenty years after its foundation — had 
but two permanently settled families. 

Henry The English and the French had hardly landed in America when 

Hudson and ,-,->. n i n ■> * t -i nr\€\ tt tt t 

the Dutch the Dutch also appeared upon the scene. In lbU9 Henry Hudson, 
an Englishman in the service of the Dutch, sailed up the magnifi- 
cent river that bears his name. On the voyage Hudson traded 
with the Indians and secured a good load of otter and beaver. He 
took back to Holland a glowing report of the country he had ex- 
plored and showed what an excellent place it was for carrying on 
a trade in furs. The Dutch were quick to take advantage of the 
opportunity. In 1613 they began to build huts on Manhattan 
Island for the storage of furs. Ten years later a Dutch colony was 
sent out to make a permanent settlement in a region which was 
then called New Netherlands and which was to include the territory 




Statue by Augustus Saint-Gaudens 



THE PURITAN 



PILGRIMS AND PURITANS 17 

out of which the four States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- chap. 

vania and Delaware have been formed. 

When the Dutch vessel carrying colonists entered the harbor at ci° a n ims ting 
the mouth of the Hudson they found a French vessel already there 
preparing to establish a colony. The Dutch gave notice that the 
country was theirs and that they would hold it against all comers. 
The French took the hint and withdrew. Meanwhile the English 
king was complaining because the Dutch were about to settle upon 
land which he claimed rightfully belonged to the English nation. 
But the Dutch went on with their plans and settlements were made 
at Fort Orange where Albany now stands, at Lewes in Delaware, at 
Fort Nassau (now Gloucester, New Jersey), and on Manhattan 
Island. On the island thev built a fort and laid the foundations 
of a town which they called New Amsterdam. Thus the Dutch 
planted themselves in a region which was claimed outright by the 
English and which was looked upon with wistful eyes by the 
French. 

Pilgrims and Puritans 

About the time Jamestown and New Amsterdam had taken root 
and were beginning to prosper, permanent English settlements 
were springing up on the coast of New England. To understand 
the origins of these settlements it will be necessary to take a glance 
at the religious conditions which prevailed at this time in England. 
For in the settlement of New England, religion was a powerful 
and controlling force. "If a man," said Francis Higginson, 
"counts religion as being twelve and all other things as being 
thirteen he has not the true New England spirit." 

At the opening of the seventeenth century the Protestants of The church 
England were divided into several distinct groups. The great body and the 
of Protestants consisted of members of the Church of England — the 
established church — established and maintained by state authority. 
Within the church there were many worshipers who had become 
dissatisfied with the manner in which affairs were conducted. 
Thinking that the forms and ceremonies of the established church 
resembled too closely the services held in Catholic churches, they* 
desired a plainer and simpler form of worship; thinking that the 
doctrine of the church was misstated and corrupted, they desired 
a purer doctrine. Because they wished to reform the church and 
purify it they were called Puritans. 



18 



THE PLANTING OF THE COLONIES 



CHAP. 
II 



The 

Indepen- 
dents 



^ 



Among the Puritans there were some who flatly denied the 
authority of the established church and claimed the right to set up 
churches of their own, elect their own preachers, and worship in 
their own way. These people, because they separated themselves 
from the established church, were called Separatists or Inde- 
pendents. They differed from most Puritans in this: Most Puri- 
tans wished to remain in the established church and reform it from 

within, while the Inde- 
pendents wished to with- 
draw from the church alto- 
gether. 

It was by groups of In- 
dependents and Puritans 
seeking to realize their re- 
ligious aspirations that 
New England was settled. 
The Independents came 
first. In September, 1620, 
about one hundred of this 
group, called Pilgrims be- 
cause of their wanderings, 
having been persecuted in 
England and harried out 
of the country, and having 
resided for a time in Hol- 
land, embarked for Amer- 
ica on the Mayflower, and 
in December went ashore 
where the town of Ply- 
mouth, Massachusetts, now 
stands, and began to lay the 
foundations of a colony to which the name of Plymouth was given. 
Circumstances made it necessary for the Pilgrims to provide a gov- 
ernment for themselves. While yet on board the Mayflower, they 
entered with great solemnity into an agreement signed by the 
whole body of men, to give their submission and obedience to all 
such laws as the general good of the colony might require. The 
Mayflower Compact is justly regarded as one of the most important 
documents in the history of American democracy. The text of the 
celebrated agreement is as follows: 




Settlements Around Massachusetts Bay 



PILGRIMS AND PURITANS 19 

In the name of God, amen. We whose names are underwritten, £ HAP- 

the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord King James, by 

the grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, ^e 
Defender of the Faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glory of compact 
God and advancement of the Christian faith and honor of our 
king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern 
parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in 
the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine our- 
selves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and 
preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid ; and by virtue 
hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, 
ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices from time to time, as 
shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good 
of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and 
obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our 
names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign 
of our sovereign lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, 
the eighteenth and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Dom. 1620. 



The form of government established was at first a pure democ- 
racy: all the freemen met in a primary meeting at Plymouth and 
attended personally to the public business. But as the colony grew 
and new settlements were made, pure democracy became imprac- 
ticable and a representative system was established. 

The colony at Plymouth prospered and the Pilgrims for many ctmsetts 
years enjoyed in the fullest measure the blessings of religious 
freedom. But the little colony of Pilgrims was destined to be 
swallowed up by a colony of Puritans who in 1629 began to make 
settlements around Massachusetts Bay and who laid the founda- 
tions of Massachusetts. The Puritans left their homes because of 
religious persecutions: at the time of their coming to America, 
Puritans in England were having their ears cropjped and their 
noses slit on account of their religious opinions. Another cause 
of their leaving was the despotic conduct of Charles I, who was 
ruling without a Parliament, taking money out of the pockets of 
his subjects in an unlawful manner, and throwing English citizens 
into jail without giving them a fair trial. Hence when the Puritans / 
left England they fled from political tyranny as well as from V 
religious persecution. 

The tide of Puritan emigration flowed very strong. By 1640 the New 
population of the Massachusetts colony was over 15,000. This was e em 



20 



THE PLANTING OF THE COLONIES 



CHAP. 
II 



The 

Beginnings 
of 

American 
Indepen- 
dence 



greater than the population of all the other British colonies in 
America put together. The Puritans came so fast that soon all 
the best places along the coast of Massachusetts Bay were occupied 
and there was overcrowding. Settlers accordingly had to look for 
new homes and their eyes turned naturally to the vast stretches of 
idle land which lay in the interior back of the parent settlements. 
Another cause which led settlers to seek new homes was discontent 
with the management of affairs in Massachusetts. The government 
of the colony soon fell into the hands of the clergy, who assumed to 
rule in temporal as well as in spiritual matters. They ruled with 
a high hand and in a most illiberal and intolerant spirit. As a 
result, many independent leaders broke away from the harsh rule 

of the parent colony, 
pushed out into the wilder- 
ness, and formed new set- 
tlements. The growth of 
New England was hardly 
anything more than the ex- 
pansion of Massachusetts. 

In 1636 Thomas Hooker, 
the pastor of a church near 
Boston, moved with his en- 
tire congregation to the 
banks of the Connecticut 
River and founded the 
colony of Connecticut. The next year, Roger Williams, a religious 
exile fleeing from the bigotry and displeasure of the Massachusetts 
rulers, began a settlement on a spot where the city of_Providence 
now stands and there laid the foundations of Rhode Island, plant- 
ing institutions that made for democracy and religious freedom. 
In 1638 John Wheelwright, another religious exile from Massa- 
chusetts, removed northward into the wilds of what is now New 
Hampshire and made at Exeter a settlement which was the nucleus 
of a colony which in time came to have a separate existence and 
which was called New Hampshire. Thus in a very few years 
nearly all of New England was brought under the control of 
Puritan settlers. 

It was in Massachusetts that the spirit of American independence 
was acquired. Since the stockholders of the Massachusetts Bay 
Co. came to America in person and brought with them a charter 




Connecticut and Rhode Island 



PILGRIMS AND PURITANS 21 

which was issued directly by the king, the settlers of this colony chap. 
were not, like those of Virginia, subject to the control of a 



company residing in England. This freedom gave them an oppor- 
tunity to build up a colonial government which was quite inde- 
pendent of any other authority except that of the king_ and Parlia- 
ment. Soon they began to ignore the wishes of the king and 
Parliament. Events in England made it easy for the Puritans to 
break away from the authority of the mother-country. The despotic 
course of Charles I caused his subjects to rebel, and by 1642 there 
was open war between the king and Parliament. The king was 
defeated, and in 1649 he was beheaded. Then came the rule of 
Oliver Cromwell, which lasted until his death in 1658, and in 1660 
Charles II was restored to the throne. During these long years of 
civil strife the English Government, whether it was that of the 
king or of Parliament that was ruling, was so busy that it could 
give but little attention to what was going on in the colonies. 
Taking advantage of this situation, Massachusetts presumed to 
act almost as if English authority had not existed. The rulers of 
the colony ceased to issue writs in the king's name, dropped the_ 
English oath of allegiance, and adopted a new oath in which public 
officials and the people swore allegiance, not to England, but to 
Massachusetts. When commissioners of the king were sent over 
from England to investigate the affairs of the colony they met with 
defiance and accomplished nothing. Thus early was the authority 
of the mother country flouted. 

The government established by the Puritans of Massachusetts £K 
was virtually a theo cracy, for no man could be a freeman of the Theocracy 
colony unless he was a member of some Puritan church. This left 
the government in the hands of men whoBelieved that human 
affairs should be conducted in accordance with the words of the 
holy writ. Since the theocracy was virtually independent of Eng- 
land it could rule with a high hand, for there was nothing to 
withstand its power. And it did rule with a high hand. The 
clergy were all-powerful in temporal as well as in spiritual matters. 
They not only argued cases in the courts, but even acted as judges. 
They would boldly attend the trial of lawsuits which were in 
progress, ' ' observe what was going on and if they were not pleased 
with the judge 's decision would overrule it, and if they did not like 
the action of the jury they would overrule it and pronounce the 
verdict themselves." 



22 



THE PLANTING OF THE COLONIES 



chap, 
ii 



The New 
England 

Confedera 
tion 



By 1640 the combined population of the New England colonies 
was probably about 25,000. By this time there was beginning to 
be felt the need of some kind of union. Accordingly in 1643 
commissioners from Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and 
New Haven met at Boston and formed a compact known as the 
New England Confederation. New Hampshire was denied member- 
ship in the confederation because it "ran a different course" from 
the other colonies "in its ministry and administration." Rhode 
Island was not allowed to join because it was regarded as "tumultu- 
ous and schismatic." The avowed purpose of the confederation 
was to defend the colonies against the French, the Dutch, and the 
(^Indians. Moreover, there was a secret hope that if the tyranny of 
Charles I should show itself in New England the confederation 
would be helpful to the colonies in the defense of their liberties. 
This confederation, although it accomplished nothing very remark- 
able, taught the colonies how to combine, and it may therefore be 
regarded as the first step in the formation of our federal union. It 
was dissolved in 1684. 



The Neighbors of Virginia 

About the time the Puritans were taking possession of New 
England other English colonists were laying the foundations of 
Maryland. The actual settlement of Maryland began in 1634, 
when about two hundred men and women sent out by Cecil Calvert 
landed on a small stream which flows into the Potomac River and 
began to build a town that was called St. Mary's. Englishmen 
had now learned the art of colonization, and the settlement of 
Maryland was easily accomplished. The cultivation of tobacco was 
the mainstay of the people. The growth of the colony was steady 
and healthful. Before tw r enty years had passed it had a population 
of more than 12,000 and was a highly prosperous community. 

The most important feature of early Maryland history was the 
religious toleration which was practised in the colony. The leaders 
were devoted Catholics who wished Maryland to be a place where 
the Catholics of England might find refuge from persecution. The 
laws of England at this time were even more severe against Catho- 
lies than they were against Puritans. But the Maryland Catholic 
leaders were broad-minded men who were willing to extend to others 
the toleration they desired for themselves. In 1649 the Maryland 



THE NEIGHBORS OF VIRGINIA 



23 



y i r g^\ i IT^tSLv ' V i&*n 




Along the Carolina Coast 



North 
Ca--d.ii 



colonial assembly, in which Catholics had the majority of votes, £ HAP - 
passed an act known as the Toleration Act providing that "no 
person professing to believe in Jesus Christ shall from henceforth 
be anywise troubled, molested, or discountenanced, for or in respect 
of his or her religion." This act was such an important step in 
the march of human progress that it well deserves the praise which 
Bancroft gives it when he calls it the "morning star of religious 
freedom." 

By the time Virginia's neighbor at the north was well started on 
the road to prosperity two colonial neighbors at the south were 
beginning to make settlements on the Carolina coast, a vast and 
vacant territory lying be- 
tween English Virginia 
and Spanish Florida. In 
1663 Carolina was granted 
by Charles II to eight pro- 
prietors who were to hold 
the country in joint pos- 
session. The settling of 
Carolina had really begun 
some years before this 
grant was made, for about 
1650 frontiersmen had be- 
gun to leave Virginia and 
settle along Albemarle 
Sound where the farming 
lands were good and where 
the freedom of pioneer life could be fully enjoyed. 

In the Albemarle region the proprietors began to develop their 
grant. Before many years had passed their territory was divided 
into two clearly defined jurisdictions, North Carolina and South 
Carolina. North Carolina had its beginning in 1664 when a 
governor was sent to rule over the little settlements in the Albe- 
marle district. South Carolina had its beginning in 1670 when 
about 150 colonists settled at the mouth of the Ashley River and 
built a cluster of cabins which they called Charlestown — later 
known as Charleston — in honor of the king. Although both North 
Carolina and South Carolina were under the control of the pro- 
prietors, each colony had its own government and each developed 
in its own way. In North Carolina the population was scattered, 



South 
Carolina 



24 



THE PLANTING OF THE COLONIES 



and it was fifty years before the colony could boast of a village 
with a dozen houses. In South Carolina everything centered around 
Charleston, which rapidly pushed forward and became a flourishing 
city. In North Carolina the products of the forest were the chief 
sources of profit. In South Carolina rice and indigo were the most 
important products. In both colonies there was slavery, but the 
slaves in North Carolina were few in number. In South Carolina, 
where the rice swamps were deadly to white men and could be 
cultivated to advantage only by negroes, the slaves far outnumbered 
the free population. 



The Ousting of the Dutch: The Middle Colonies 

Now that England had planted her power along the Carolina 
coast the only break in her line of colonies on the seaboard between 
Florida and Nova Scotia was that made by the Dutch settlements 
in the region of the Hudson and the Delaware. But this gap was 
soon filled. Indeed, in the very year in which the settlement of 
North Carolina was begun Charles II decided to push the claims 
which England had always made to the territory held by the Dutch. 
In 1664 an English fleet appeared before New Amsterdam and a 
demand was made for the surrender of the town. Since resistance 
would have been madness the surrender was made without the» 
firing of a shot on either side. The end of Dutch rule in New 
Netherland was certain to come sooner or later ; x the Dutch in 
America could not withstand permanently the numbers that were 
against them. There were in all New Netherlands in 1664 less than 
10,000 inhabitants, and nearly half of these were Englishmen. 
North of the Dutch, in New England, there were about 50,000 
Englishmen and south of them in Maryland and Virginia there 
were 50,000 more Englishmen. If the English king had not taken 
New Netherlands by force, therefore, English colonists would almost 
certainly have overrun the country and crowded the Dutch out. 
With the Dutch out of the way the English came into full posses- 
sion of the Atlantic seaboard from Nova Scotia to Florida. 

The province wrested from the Dutch was rapidly organized into 
English colonies. The Dutch officials gave up their places to Eng- 
lish officials and a code of English laws was substituted for Dutch 

1 In 1G73, England and Holland being at war. New York was recaptured 
by the Dutch and remained in their possession for fifteen months ; it was then 
restored to the English. 



OUSTING OF THE DUTCH : THE MIDDLE COLONIES 25 



laws. The colony of New York was organized with the Duke of chap. 
York as its proprietor. The charter of the proprietor authorized 
him to make laws for the colony; but soon the people began to 
clamor for a share in law-making, and before the close of the 
seventeenth century New York like the other colonies had an 
assembly consisting of representatives chosen by the freemen. 

The Duke of York was the proprietor of all New Netherlands, ^^7 ; 
but he at once granted to two favorites the part of his province 
which lay between the Hudson and the Delaware and which is now 
the State of New Jersey. 




The settlement of New Jer- 
sey under its English mas- 
ters began in 1665 when 
Elizabethtown was founded. 
The colony grew rapidly 
under English rule and the 
people fared well. It is said 
that in 1675 there was not a 
single poor person in the 
whole colony of New Jersey. 

A third colony formed out 
of the territory transferred 
from the Dutch to the Eng- 
lish was Delaware. The 
foundations of Delaware 
were laid by the Swedes in 
1638. But the Swedes were 
regarded by the Dutch as 
trespassers and invaders, Delaware River and Delaware Bay 
and in 1655 they were compelled to acknowledge the Dutch as 
their masters. When the Dutch turned over their American 
possessions to the English, therefore, the Swedish settlements were 
included in the transfer. 

The subsequent colonial history of Delaware is inseparably con- 
nected with that of Pennsylvania. This colony was founded in 
1682 by William Penn. In Penn we see one of the most remarkable 
and interesting characters in our colonial history, ' ' the wise founder 
of a state, the prudent and just magistrate, the liberal-minded law- 
giver and ruler." While a young man at college Penn fell under 
the influence of the Quakers, or Friends, and the teachings of this 



William 
Penn 



26 THE PLANTING OF THE COLONIES 

sect took such firm hold upon his mind and heart that he came to 
regard his religion as of more value to him than life itself. Once 
he was thrown into prison for writing a book without license to do 
so. He was told that if he did not renounce his religion he would 
remain a prisoner for life. "My prison," he said, "shall be my 
grave before I will budge a jot." He was released from prison, 
but he remained true to his convictions. The many persecutions 
to which he was subjected caused him to see in clearer light the 
rightfulness of toleration and to long for a society where there 
would be perfect freedom of conscience and complete toleration in 
religious matters. 

It happened that an opportunity came to Penn to try a "holy 
experiment" in the art of government. When his father died he 
found himself possessed of an ample inheritance. A part of his 
estate was a claim against King Charles II for a debt of £16,000. 
The debt was discharged in 1681 by a grant to Penn of a tract of 
land extending westward from the Delaware River and containing 
about 48,000 square miles of territory, 1 a domain about as large as 
England itself. Penn, giving his province the appropriate name 
of Pennsylvania — Penn 's woodland — began to plan for its develop- 
ment. To the Swedish and Dutch settlers already on his land he 
sent a letter containing these encouraging words: "You shall be 
governed by laws of your own making and live a free and, if you 
will, a sober and industrious people. I shall not usurp the right of 
any or oppress his person. Whatever sober and free men can 
reasonably desire for the security and improvement of their own 
happiness I shall heartily comply with." In 1682 Penn went out 
in person to his American province and assisted in establishing a 
government that rested upon principles as generous and as free as 
the world had ever known. One of his first acts was to make a 
treaty with the neighboring Indians. Penn met the chiefs of 
seventeen tribes beneath a great elm at a place just north of 
Philadelphia called Shackamaxon — "the place of kings" — and 
bought from them their lands ; and he entered into an agreement 
with them that the English and the Indians should live in peace 

1 When Pennsylvania was granted to Penn a dispute arose between Lord 
Baltimore and Penn as to the boundary between their grants. The issue was 
settled in 1767, when the Mason and Dixon's Line was established. This line 
separated Maryland from Delaware and Pennsylvania. The boundary between 
Maryland and West Virginia was not definitely settled until 1912. 



OUSTING OF THE DUTCH: THE MIDDLE COLONIES 27 



Philadel- 
phia 



and friendship as long as the sun gave light, an. agreement that chap 
was sacredly kept by both parties for nearly seventy years. 

Penn remained with his colonists for two years, and was then 
called back to England. When he returned in 1699 he found that 
wonderful changes had been made during his absence. More than 
twenty thousand white people had come to live in his province. 
Philadelphia, which in 1684 he had left a rude village, had grown 
to be a thriving city that was carrying on a profitable trade with 
England and the West Indies. In the city there were tanneries, 
potteries, saw-mills, flour-mills. Many of the houses were built of 
brick. Markets were held twice a week, and there were inns where 
the traveler could get good board and a comfortable bed. 



NOTES AND CHRONOLOGY 



[This matter is indexed, 
body of the text.] 



It does not include subjects treated in the main 



1G00 
1602 
1603 

1604 
1605 
1600 

1607 
1608 

1613 

1614 

1618 
1619 
1620 



1621 
1622 
1624 
1625 
1627 
1628 



East India Co. receives its charter. 

Bartholomew Gosnold attempts to colonize New England. 

James I becomes king of England ; union of the English and Scottish 
crowns. 

Port Royal, Acadia, founded by the French. 

George Weymouth visits the New England coast. 

Colonies of Virginia and Plymouth incorporated with a grant of land 
between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of latitude. 

Lord Popham founds a colony on the Sagadahoc. 

Captain John Smith chosen as president of the Jamestown colony. 

Pilgrims leave England and settle in Leyden. 

French colony is founded on Mount Desert Island. The colony is 
promptly broken up by the English under Samuel Argall. 

Captain John Smith sails along the New England coast and explores 
its harbors. 

Sir Walter Raleigh executed. 

Sir George Yeardley made colonial governor of Virginia. 

Council for New England organized to take the place of the Plym- 
outh Co. 

John Carver made governor of the Plymouth colony. 

Dutch West India Co. organized in Holland. 

First weekly newspaper published in England. 

Peter Minuits governor of New Netherlands. 

Charles I becomes king of England. 

Lord Baltimore attempts to found a colony in Newfoundland. 

Charles I is forced to assent to the Petition of Right, directed against 
the abuse of the royal authority. 

John Endicott founds a colony at Salem. 



28 THE PLANTING OF THE COLONIES 

1G29 English Parliament dissolved ; for eleven years there is no Parliament. 

John Winthrop chosen governor of Massachusetts. 
1630 Boston founded. 

1632 Sir George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore, obtains from King Charles a 
promise of a grant of land, now Maryland, but dies before the 
charter is granted. 
Cecilius Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, receives a charter for a colony 
in Maryland. 

1635 Hartford, Connecticut, founded. 

1636 Springfield, Massachusetts, founded. 

1637 Pequot War in New England ; the Pequots are subjugated. 

1638 Delaware settled by the Swedes near the site of Wilmington. 

Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, a gifted and earnest woman, banished from 
Massachusetts on account of her religious belief, goes with some 
followers to Rhode Island and founds Newport. 

1639 New Haven colony founded. 

First printing office in America was established at Cambridge. 
People of Connecticut adopt the first written constitution. 

1640 Now Hampshire forms a union with Massachusetts. 

1642 War between Charles I and Parliament. 

Sir William Berkeley appointed governor of Virginia. 

1643 Louis XIV becomes king of France. 

1644 Union of the colonies of Providence and Rhode Island. 

Blue Laws passed by the general court of Connecticut, providing that 
the judicial laws of God as they were delivered to Moses shall be 
binding on all offenders. 

1646 John Eliot preaches his first sermon to the Indians. 

1647 Peter Stuyvesant made the governor of New Amsterdam. 
Charles I delivered up to Parliament. 

Law passed in Massachusetts requiring every township of fifty house- 
holders to have a school-house and employ a teacher ; if the town 
has one hurdred freeholders it must support a grammar-school. 

1651 Navigation Act passed by Parliament. (It provided that goods pur- 
chased in Asia, Africa, or America must not be brought into any 
British port except in English owned and manned ships ; that 
European goods should be taken to England, or the British pos- 
sessions, either in English ships or in the ships of the country in 
which the goods were produced ; that the coasting trade in British 
dominions should be carried on in British ships. The underlying 
purpose of the law was to build up English shipping and at the 
same time cripple the carrying trade of Holland, the country which 
was pushing to the front as a trade rival of England.) 

1653 Oliver Cromwell made lord protector. 

1655 Stuyvesant conquers New Sweden (Delaware). 

Conquest of Jamaica from the Spanish by the English. 

1657 Cromwell refuses the English crown. 

1659 Quakers in Boston persecuted, two being put to death. 

1660 Charles II restored to the throne. 

1662 Charter obtained from Charles II merging New Haven into Connecticut. 

1663 Parliament passes a Navigation Act which virtually prohibits the 

colonies from receiving any commodities which are not laden and 
shipped in Great Britain. 
1665 Union of the Connecticut and New Haven colonies effected. 



CHRONOLOGY 29 

1669 Locke's "Fundamental Constitutions." (This was a fantastical scheme 

of government for Carolina drawn up by the philosopher, John 
Locke. It provided in great detail for the division of the colonists 
into classes. There was to be an upper or governing class consisting 
of landgraves, or earls, and caciques, or barons. Below the govern- 
ing class there was to be a lower class whose status was to be 
virtually that of serfs. Locke's scheme was wholly unsuitable to 
the conditions which prevailed in the colony, and it failed to work.) 

1670 Charleston, South Carolina, founded. 
Incorporation of the Hudson Bay Co. 

1675 King Philip's War. (When this war was ended, in 1676, the Indian 

power in New England was forever destroyed.) 
The lords of trade appointed as a standing committee of the king's 
council for the supervision of the colonies. 

1676 Nathaniel Bacon rises in rebellion against the oppression of Berkeley. 

(Bacon burned Jamestown, Berkeley taking refuge in an English 
vessel in the harbor. In 1677 Bacon died and the rebellion col- 
lapsed. Of those who participated in the rebellion twenty-three 
were executed.) 

1677 Maine purchased by Massachusetts. 

1681 William Penn receives his patent for Pennsylvania. 

1682 Philadelphia founded by William Penn. 

East Jersey purchased from the Carteret heirs by the Quakers. 

Suggested Readings 

Colonization : Van Metre, pp. 33-54. 

Motives for colonization : Bogart, pp. 29-34. 

Colonial industries : Lippincott, pp. 57-88. 

The Puritans in England : Cheyney, pp. 216-227 ; Green, pp. 462-464. 

Charles I : Green, pp. 514-534. 

Oliver Cromwell : Green, pp. 547-559. 

The influence of the Appalachian barrier : Semple, pp. 36-52. 

King Philip : Hitchcock, pp. 44-56. 

The Jerseys : Andrews, pp. 101-129. 

Early colonial education : Dexter, pp. 1-72. 

The mercantile system : Bogart, pp. 90-103. 

The coming of the foreigners : Channing, Vol. II, pp. 491-527. 



Ill 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

The Colonies at the Opening of the Eighteenth Century 



A 



T the opening of the eighteenth century the settled portion of 
British America consisted of a strip of seaboard territory 
which was more than 1200 miles in length but which in many places 
extended into the interior only a few miles. The combined popu- 
lation of the twelve colonies in 1700 was about 250,000, not counting 
Indians but including negro slaves. Where so few people were 
scattered over such an immense area the civilization could only be 
a rural one. Towns and cities were, indeed, few and far between. 
Boston was the largest and most important place in New England, 
its population being about 7000. New York City had a population 
of a little more than 5000. Philadelphia, although but recently 
founded, was already the largest city in America. Its population 
was more than 10,000, and it was growing at a rapid rate. In 
Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina life was almost entirely 
rural. Norfolk, indeed, had become a busy little seaport, but it 
was still a village. Charleston, however, had grown to be a place 
of considerable size. 

The chief occupation in all the colonies was farming. Almost 
everywhere a farm could be had for a song. The cheapness of land 
was the outstanding economic fact of American life throughout the 
whole of the colonial period. "Land being thus plenty in Amer- 
ica," said Benjamin Franklin in 1751, "and so cheap as that a 
laboring man that understands Husbandry, can in a short time save 
money enough to purchase a piece of land sufficient for a planta- 
tion whereon he may subsist a family, such are not afraid to marry ; 
for if they look far enough forward to consider how their children 
when grown up, are to be provided for, they see that more land is 
to be had at rates equally easy." In theory the title to American 
soil was in the king or in those to whom he had granted it, but in 
practice the actual cultivator was generally the virtual owner of 
the land he tilled. In the royal provinces land was purchased from 

30 



COLONIES AT OPENING OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 31 



fti&z-"™ 



che crown by application to the royal governor ; in the proprietary 
colonies it was parceled out by the proprietor to individual buyers. 
But whether the title passed from the crown or from the proprietor 
the land purchased was subjected to a quit-rent to be paid annually 
forever to the grantor. The quit-rent was usually an insignificant 
sum, two shillings on each hundred acres being the ordinary amount. 
The possessors of large 
grants, being always de- 
sirous to secure settlers, 
sold their land to small 
holders on extremely 
liberal terms. For ex- 
ample, an offer to 
settlers in the Carolinas 
said that "every Free- 
man and Free-woman 
that transport them- 
selves and Servants by 
the 25th of March next, 
being 1667, shall have 
for himself, wife, Chil- 
dren and Men-Servants 
for each 100 Acres of 
Land for him and his 
heirs forever, subject to 
a yearly quit-rent of at 
most !/2d. per acre." 1 
In Virginia likewise the 
London Co., in order 
to encourage settlement, 
gave one hundred acres 
of land to any resi- The Frontier Line in V°° 

dent who would bring a laborer to the colony. In New England 
the settlers obtained full possession of the soil. To every town the 
general court granted a tract of unimproved and uncultivated land 
about six miles square. This land was a gift not to individuals 
but to the community at large. In the development of the town the 
land was allotted to individual owners by the action of the town 
meeting. Waste or unallotted land was held in common for the 
1 T. W. Van Metre, "Economic History of the United States," p. 47. 




CHAP. 
Ill 



The 

Colonial 
Land 
System 



32 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

chap. benefit of all. In New England and the middle colonies the farms 

as a rule were small. In New York, however, this was not the case. 

Under Dutch rule immense private estates located on the banks of 
the Hudson River had been granted to proprietors known as 
patroons. When the English became the masters of New York they 
followed the system of their Dutch predecessors and granted vast 
tracts of land to single owners. Some of these New York estates 
were of enormous size, the Van Rensselaer plantation alone contain- 
ing more than a million acres and comprising several townships. 
In the South the plantations as a rule were large because the staple 
Southern products, tobacco and rice, could be most profitably culti- 
vated on a large scale. The plantations ranged in area from 1000 
to 50,000 acres. 
T1 "' . , The typical colonial farmer did a great deal more than till the 

nlonial 

Farmer so il. He hunted in the woods, he fished along the banks of streams, 
he trapped fur-bearing animals, he felled trees and made rough 
planks, staves, and shingles. The colonial farmer accordingly had 
something besides grain to sell, for there was always a good market 
in the West Indies for his dried fish and for his timber. 

Tra/ 1 " Next to farming, the most important occupation was fur trading. 

Killing and There was a strong demand in Europe for American furs, and the 

bunding colonial fur trade was highly profitable. Fishing also was a lucra- 
tive industry, especially in New England. In Massachusetts alone 
hundreds of vessels and thousands of seamen were engaged in the 
cod and whale fisheries. Another flourishing industry of early 
New England was ship-building, for the primeval forests supplied 
masts and planks and other materials for making ships at little cost. 

Manufac- Manufactures in America made little progress in the colonial 

turea _ r ° 

period. England had manufactures of her own, and they were the 
breath of her industrial life. She did not want colonial manufac- 
turing to flourish, and she took care to nip it in the bud. In 1699 
Parliament passed the Woolen Act, which made it unlawful to send 
woolen goods out of the colony or from one colony to another or 
from one place to another in the same colony, for purposes of sale. 
This meant that colonial cloth could not be sold at all ; if any was 
made it must be used in the household in which it was woven. It 
was the general policy of England to restrict the colonies to the 
production of raw materials. She pursued this policy because she 
believed that by importing only raw materials and working these 
up at home into manufactured articles she could always keep the 



/:'''C:::::I: 




COLONIES AT OPENING OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 33 

balance of trade in her favor. Hence when she confined her I ^[ IAP - 
colonies to raw materials she did so not with the view of oppressing - 

the colonists, but for the purpose of increasing her power in the 
only way in which she then believed she could increase it. 

Commerce flourished along the whole length of the colonial sea- Commeree 
board. In South Carolina the exports were rice and indigo; in 
North Carolina, they were naval stores, tar, pitch, and turpentine; 
in Maryland and Virginia the staple export was tobacco ; the 
middle colonies sold grain, lumber, products, hides, and furs. With 
the exception of furs, tobacco, and indigo, the export trade of al- 
most every colony consisted of articles for which the chief demand 
was in the West Indies. To these islands the merchants of Massa- 
chusetts and Rhode Island sent fish, salted meats, barrel staves, and 
lumber, receiving in exchange molasses, much of which was manu- 
factured into rum. The rum was sent to the Guinea coast and 
exchanged for captive negroes, most of whom were transported to 
the West Indies and exchanged for molasses. Some of the slaves 
were brought to Virginia and a few to New England. The profit 
of this triangular traffic was sometimes enormous. A slave pur- 
chased in Africa for one hundred gallons of rum, worth ten pounds, 
brought from twenty to fifty pounds when offered for sale in the 
colonies. 

Trade was confined chiefly to the seaports. Road building on a £™ nsporta ' 
large scale had not yet begun. In Massachusetts some of the prin- 
cipal towns were joined by roads, and by 1704 Madam Knight could 
travel on horseback from Boston to New York; but she was com- 
pelled to say that the journey was one of great discomforts and 
inconveniences. In New York the roads were so bad that vehicles 
could not move on them, and there were only two coaches in the 
whole colony. From New York southward the traveler on horse- 
back might make his way safely as far as Norfolk, but it was still 
impossible to make such a journey in a wheeled vehicle. Still, the 
means of communication permitted the operation of a postal sys- 
tem. The colonial post-office had been established, and a letter 
could be sent from Boston to Williamsburg in Virginia. But if the 
cross-country trade was difficult, transportation by water was 
everywhere easy. In Virginia and the Carolinas the waterways 
were so satisfactory that little effort was made to build roads. The 
waterways of the middle colonies and of New England were also 
favorable to trade. 



34 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 



CHAP. 
Ill 



Money 



The greatest drawback to commerce in the early colonial days 
was the lack of money. Trade with the Indians was carried on 
largely through the use of wampum or shell money. In no colony 
was there much gold or silver. Much of the trading had to be 
effected by barter ; that is, one commodity had to be exchanged for 
another, corn for fish, a horse for a cow, a pair of shoes for a coat. 
In Maryland and Virginia tobacco was used as a substitute for 
money. In New York wampum often passed as money among the 
settlers. In New England corn was used as a medium of exchange. 
Massachusetts in 1652 established a mint at which shillings and 
sixpences were coined, and the pine-tree shillings turned out by 
this mint had a wide circulation. In 1690 Massachusetts set the 
example of issuing paper money, and it was not long before paper 
currency became common not only in Massachusetts but in the other 
colonies also. 

In his every-day life the colonist faced the hard conditions of a 
wild and primitive civilization. His settlement was planted in a 
forest, and for many years he lived with woods all around him. 
Where everything was wild and rough, there was a vast amount of 
hard work to be done. If the land was to be made fit for tillage, the 
forests would have to be cleared, and the settler's ax must swing 
from morning till night all the year round. Besides, roads must be 
opened, dwellings must be erected, and mills and stores and work- 
shops must be built. Back of the settlement there were the enemies 
that roamed on the great dark woods: panthers and bears and 
wolves and Indians. Early America, therefore, was no place for 
idlers or cowards. It was a place to be won by men who could use 
an ax and spade and plow as well as the rifle and the sword. 

And life within the colonial home was almost as hard as it was 
outside. In the early days the settler's dwelling was a rude cabin 
built of logs. Later it was a frame structure with several rooms. 
But it was not a comfortable abode. Its most important room was 
the kitchen, with its big fireplace, where all the cooking was done. 
As yet, neither in the Old World nor in the New was there such a 
thing as a stove. In the chimney above the fireplace was an iron 
bar from which hung the pots and kettles, while beneath blazed the 
great log fire at which the food was cooked. The kitchen was the 
only room in the house that was heated. In severe weather even 
the cooking-room was a cold place, for the heat of the log fire could 
be felt only a few feet away. One writer tells us of the ink 



COLONIES AT OPENING OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 35 

freezing on his pen as he wrote beside the chimney. The house £^ AP - 

was lighted as poorly as it was heated, for there was not even a 

good oil lamp to drive away the darkness. In many a colonial home 
the only light was a burning knot, or stick of pine. And the houses 
were poorly furnished. Often the dining-table was simply a long 
board three or four feet wide with trestles at each end to support it. 
Dishes were often made of wood. 

In the plain colonial home were done a great many things that {^ u u ^y ld 
are now done in factories or shops or mills. The wool which the 
farmer raised was spun into yarn and woven into cloth and made 
into clothes by the members of the family. Thus the man who cut 
the wool from the back of his sheep wore the very same wool on 
his own back. In this household industry all took a part. A 
pleasing picture of a colonial family engaged at the task of spinning 
and weaving is drawn by Alice Morse Earle: 

Often by the bright firelight in the early evening every member 
of the household might be seen at work on the various stages of 
wool manufacture. The old grandmother at light and easy work 
such as carding the wool into fleecy rolls. The mother spins the 
rolls into woolen yarn at the great wheel. The oldest daughter 
sits at the stick-reel. A little girl at a small wheel is filling quills 
with woolen yarn for the loom. The father is setting fresh teeth 
in a wool-card, while the boys are whittling hand-reels and loom- 
spindles. 

In almost every colony religion was a powerful element in the Religion 
lives of the people. The church was the colonial community center. 
Sunday was regarded as a holy day and everybody was expected to 
keep it holy. Any one guilty of breaking the Sabbath was severely 
punished. In some of the colonies attendance at church was com- 
pulsory. By 1700 a number of different faiths had gained a foot- 
hold in the colonies. In Virginia and the Carolinas, the Church of 
England — the Episcopal Church — was the leading denomination, 
although in these colonies there were a large number of Quakers 
and Baptists. In Maryland the Catholics were still strong in 
numbers, but the ruling classes belonged to the Episcopal Church. 
In Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, the Quakers were the 
most powerful sect, although Lutherans, Baptists, and Presby- 
terians had gained a foothold in Pennsylvania. In New York there 
was as much diversity in the matter of religion as in other matters. 



36 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 



There was in the colony almost every denomination that could be 
mentioned, but no one church greatly overshadowed the others. In 
New England the Congregational Church, which was the church 
of the Puritans, prevailed except in Rhode Island, where the 
Baptists were the strongest religious body. Puritanism still ruled 
in New England, yet the power of the theocracy was no longer 
absolute. 1 Nor was the spirit of Puritanism so harsh and severe 
as it was in the early days when the foundations of New England 
were being laid. "The Massachusetts merchant," says Doyle, 
"could now build a fine house. He could choose furniture made 
of costly woods. He could cover his sideboard with valuable silver 
plate. He could import an English coach and horses. He and his 
family could dress expensively in imported stuffs." But it must 
not be thought that the old Puritan spirit had died out completely. 
Life in New England was still a sober and somber affair. Amuse- 
ments were largely frowned upon : dancing was not yet allowed, 
stage plays were prohibited, and the players of foot-ball found little 
favor in the eyes of the rulers. 

Education in the colonies at the opening of the eighteenth cen- 
tury had made little progress. Conditions were still unfavorable 
for anything like a well-ordered system of popular instruction. 
Good teachers were hard to get, and schoolhouses were so far apart 
that children had to travel miles to reach one. The colonial school- 
house was a shabby affair. It was nearly always built of logs and 
often had only a dirt floor. Yet in most of the colonies there was 
a keen appreciation of the blessings of education. Especially was 
this true in the Puritan colonies. "Child," said a New England 
mother, "if God make thee a good Christian and a good scholar, 
'tis all thy mother ever asked of thee." As early as 1647 there 
was a law in Massachusetts that every town of fifty families should 
have a school where children might learn to read and write. But 
these early schools were not free. New York education had flour- 
ished under the Dutch, but their English successors were slow in 
establishing schools. Efforts were made in New Jersey in the latter 
part of the seventeenth century to establish a system of public 
schools, but the century closed without any success in that direction. 
In Pennsylvania education was faring a little better. The assembly 
of that colony in 1692 passed a law providing that all who had 
charge of children should see that they were taught to read and 

1 See p. 21. 



COLONIES AT OPENING OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 37 

write by the time they were twelve years old, and numerous records chap. 

show that the law was enforced. In 1697 the Penn Charter School 

was opened in Philadelphia. In Maryland there was an occasional 
private school, but no regular public schools had as yet been estab- 
lished. This was true also of Virginia and the Carolinas. Higher 
education had had a beginning. Harvard College was founded in 
1636, William and Mary in 1693, and Yale in 1701. 

By 1700 the groundwork of government in every colony was the ? e d 
charter, or the royal grant or concession. This was regarded as a ™T k ? f , 

, <=> o Colonial 

pledge of good faith on the part of the home government, and it £ ov £ rn " 
was the doctrine in the colonies that neither the king nor his officers 
could rightfully violate the provisions of the charter. Even a law 
of the colonial legislature was regarded as void if it was contrary 
to the charter. In all the colonies government was organized on 
the principle that power should flow in three streams, and in every 
colony there were three great departments, the legislative, the 
executive, and the judicial. The legislative branch in nearly all 
the colonies consisted of the lower house elected by the voters, and 
of a small upper house — usually known as the council — appointed 
by the governor. The legislature could pass any law that was not 
contrary to the law of England, and its statutes related to almost 
every subject of governmental concern. The lower house had full 
control in respect of the raising and spending of money. The head 
of the executive department was the governor, a most important 
political personage in colonial life. In Connecticut and Rhode 
Island the governor was elected by the people ; in the other colonies 
he was appointed either by the proprietor or by the king. The 
council, besides acting as one of the branches of the legislature, 
assisted the governor in the discharge of his duties. In every 
colony there was a judicial system, the judges of which were 
appointed by the governor, or by the king through the governor. 
In all the colonies the right of suffrage was made dependent upon 
the ownership of a certain amount of property, and only the male 
adults could vote. 

In all the colonies there were counties and county officers. In £°<»i 
the southern colonies, the county was the only local government. 
The Virginia county, modeled after the English shire, was for a 
long time a close corporation and was virtually an aristocracy of 
large landholders. But the English shire did not suit the condi- 
tions which prevailed in New England. Here, since the tillable 



ment 



38 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 



CHAP. 
Ill 



The 

Colonial 
Legislature 



land was divided by nature into small areas marked off by bold 
hills and troublesome streams, the settlers found it convenient to 
build their houses as close together as possible and settle in compact 
villages rather than to spread out on large plantations. The form 
of local government adopted for these thickly settled communities 
was one that had almost perished from the earth. The ancient 
town or village meeting that the Anglo-Saxons had brought with 
them to England a thousand years before was revived in its ancient 
form and vigor and made to do duty in the Puritan communities. 
The town was a pure democracy in which all the adult male inhabit- 
ants who were church-members had a voice. The New England 
town was chosen as an agency of local government throughout all 
New England, and under its stimulating and healthful influence 
there was developed a citizenship that has received the admiration 
of the world. 

The powers exercised by the colonial governments were very 
large. The colonial legislature could legislate on all matters per- 
taining to the welfare of the colony, but it could not infringe upon 
the law of England. If a colonial law was contrary to the law of 
England it could be vetoed by the king. The royal veto was some- 
times brought into use, but in most things each colony was a self- 
governing community left to manage its own affairs in its own way. 
It was a recognized principle that the colonies might legislate for 
themselves as they pleased, provided their laws were consistent with 
allegiance to the crown and were not contrary to those acts of 
Parliament in which the colonies were expressly mentioned. The 
independence enjoyed by the colony in matters of legislation is the 
cardinal fact of our colonial political history. 



First Steps 
in the 
Westward 
Movement 



Pushing Back the Frontier Line 

After the founding of Pennsylvania a half -century passed before 
another colony was planted. 1 During this interval it was more 
desirable to develop the existing colonies than to organize new ones. 
The development consisted mainly in pushing back the frontier 
line — the line which divided the settled country from the wilder- 
ness, civilization from savagery — and bringing vacant lands under 
cultivation. In New England and New York the rapid settlement 
of the back country was for many years rendered impossible by 

a In 17.°).'') the colony of Georgia was founded on the Carolina coast under 
the leadership of James Oglethorpe, the first settlement being Savannah. 



PUSHING BACK THE FRONTIER LINE 



39 



unfavorable conditions arising out of conflicts on the frontier 
between the English and the French. In Virginia, Maryland, and 
Pennsylvania, however, settlements were carried westward in ener- 
getic fashion. In 1716 Alexander Spotswood, the governor of Vir- 
ginia, took with him a party of fifty men and pushed out into the 
Shenandoah Valley. Soon English settlements began to appear in 
the valley, and by 1750 the frontier line in Virginia had moved 
westward as far as the Blue Ridge Mountains. The expedition of 
Spotswood was the first step in the mighty westward movement. 

The rapid development of western Virginia and western Penn- 
sylvania was due largely to the industry and enterprise of German 
and Scotch-Irish immigrants who at the close of the seventeenth 
and the opening of the eighteenth century began to come to America 



CHAP. 

in 




The 

Pennsyl- 
vania 
Dutch 



Spottswood's Route : The first road to the West 



in large numbers. The German new-comers — Pennsylvania Dutch 
they were called — made their first settlement in Pennsylvania in 
1692 at Germantown, near Philadelphia. From this place they 
moved westward. As they were excellent pioneers, the great forests 
of Pennsylvania fell rapidly before the heavy strokes of their axes. 
In 1700 Lancaster was founded, and by 1730 they had reached the 
Susquehanna and had founded Harrisburg. They settled the 
Cumberland Valley, and moved on down into the Shenandoah 
Valley. 

Hand in hand with the Germans in the settlement of western 
Pennsylvania went the Scotch-Irish. These people began to arrive 
in America about 1715, and it is probable that by 1770 half a 
million of them had settled in the colonies. They settled in all 
parts of British America but most of them found homes in Penn- 
sylvania. Like the Pennsylvania Dutch, the Scotch were good 
pioneers. They made settlements wherever they could find unoccu- 



The Scotch- 
Irish 



40 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 



CHAP. 
Ill 



pied lands. They paid little attention to the claims of the Indians, 
as they said "it was against the laws of God and nature that so 
much good land should be idle while so many Christians wanted it 
to work on and raise their bread." 

Thus through the industry and enterprise of pioneers the strip 
of English civilization on the American coast rapidly grew wider. 
Between 1700 and 1750 the frontier line in some places was carried 
westward over the Blue Ridge Mountains even to the crest of the 
Alleghanies. With this increase in the area of settlement there 
was of course a corresponding increase in population. It is prob- 
able that in 1750 there were in the thirteen colonies a million white 
people and a quarter of a million negro slaves. 



The French 
in the 
Mississippi 
Valley 



The 

Border 

Wars 



The Struggle for a Continent 

By the time the English were ready to carry their settlements 
westward beyond the Alleghanies the French had established their 
power in the Mississippi Valley. The movement which carried the 
French into the valley began in the reign of Louis XIV, who desired 
to build up in America an empire which would redound "to the 
glory of God" and to his own honor. In accordance with his wishes 
exploration in America was carried forward in every direction and 
with renewed zeal. In 1670 at the Sault Sainte Marie, Saint Lusson 
took possession in the name of Louis XIV of all the territory from 
the North to the South Sea extending to the ocean in the west. 
Three years later Joliet and Marquette by the route of the Fox- 
Wisconsin waterway reached the Mississippi and in their light 
canoes paddled down the stream as far as the mouth of the Arkan- 
sas. After Joliet and Marquette came Robert La Salle, who 
explored the Mississippi to its mouth and, landing on one of the 
banks of the great stream, took possession in 1682 of the surround- 
ing country in the name of the king of France, calling it Louisiana 
in honor of the king. France was now in possession of the St. 
Lawrence Valley, the Great Lakes region, and the Mississippi 
Valley. The English by this time were the masters of only a 
narrow strip of coast land ; the French had gained possession of the 
heart of the American continent. 

But England and France were jealous rivals for power both in 
the Old World and in the New, and it was only a matter of time 
when the ancient enmity of these two nations would show itself in 
American affairs. The first clash came in 1689 when the inter- 



THE STRUGGLE FOR A CONTINENT 41 

ference of the French king in the affairs of England brought on a ^ AP - 

war — King William's War — which spread to America and which ■ 

consisted chiefly in a border warfare between the French and 
Indians on one side and the colonists of New York and New 
England on the other. After many raids upon the English settle- 
ments and after many retaliatory expeditions, the war was brought 
to an end in 1697 by the Treaty of Ryswick, under the terms of 
which each country was restored to the territory it possessed at the 
outbreak of the war. The Treaty of Ryswick settled nothing of 
real importance, and within five years England and France were 
again at war. In 1702 the king of France, Louis XIV, placed his 
grandson on the throne of Spain. This extension of French influ- 
ence was resented by England, and there followed a war which 
spread to America, where it was known as Queen Anne's War. 
This war was simply King William's War over again, except that 
in Queen Anne's War the border warfare was confined to the 
frontier communities of New England. In 1710 an expedition from 
New England attacked Acadia (Nova Scotia) and gained possession 
of the peninsula. In 1713 the war was brought to a close by the 
Treaty of Utrecht. Under the terms of this treaty Nova Scotia and 
Newfoundland were given to England. In Queen Anne's War, 
accordingly, France received a real blow, for she lost to England a 
valuable portion of her American possessions. For thirty years 
after the Treaty of Utrecht the French and English in America 
lived in peace. In 1744 there was a third clash, known as King 
George's War. This war had little significance, for when it was 
brought to an end in 1748 by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle it was 
agreed that all conquests made during the war should be mutually 
restored. 

All the time the border wars were in progress the French were French 
busy in the Mississippi Valley making settlements, building forts, settlements 
and in many ways making a great show of strength in the New 
World. In 1716 Natchez was founded and two years later the 
streets of New Orleans were laid out. Forts were built on the 
Mississippi, the Illinois, and the Wabash and on the shores of the 
Great Lakes. 

But the power of France in America was by no means so great as The French 

. . and English 

it seemed to be. The things done by the French were insignificant colonial 

Systems 

when compared with the things done by the English. In 1750 there compared 
was more real civilization, more "seeds of things," in the town of 



42 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 



chap. 
in 



England 
Attempts to 

Chrek the 
French 
A<h ance 



Boston than in all New France. France was left behind because 
she had a bad colonial system, while England had a good one. We 
have already seen that the French in America neglected the occu- 
pation of farming while the English colonists made agriculture 
their basic industry. There were other important differences be- 
tween the French and the English colonial systems. In New France 

the colonists were 
treated as underlings ; 
they were allowed no 
voice in government 
and were compelled to 
obey officers sent out by 
the French king. In 
British America the 
colonists were treated 
as freemen and were 
allowed to govern them- 
selves. In New France 
the colonists were in 
most things mere auto- 
matons; they could not 
act for themselves but 
had to behave strictly 
according to the wishes 
of the far-away home 
government. In Brit- 
ish America the col- 
onists were thrown 
upon their own re- 
sources and could do 
The Frontier Line in 1740 what in their judgment 

ought to be done. As a result of these differences in colonial policy 
British America ran ahead of New France in industry, in trade, in 
education, in wealth, in population. In 1750 the French in 
America numbered only about 80,000 while the English numbered 
more than a million. In the entire Mississippi Valley there 
were at this time probably fewer than 5,000 Frenchmen. 

Still, the power of the French in America by 1750 was becoming 
a menace to the British. England was now seeing clearly that if 
Ihe great Mississippi Valley should fill up with Frenchmen a tide 




THE STRUGGLE FOR A CONTINENT 43 

of French power and French civilization would sweep eastward ^f AP - 
over the Alleghanies, subjugate the English colonies along the coast, 
and at last drive the English from the face of the American con- 
tinent. England accordingly determined to check the growing 
power of France in the valley. In 1749 the king of England granted 
to some Virginians an immense tract of land along the Ohio. This 
step was regarded by the French as an encroachment. Soldiers 
were at once sent down from Canada to take formal possession of 
the Ohio Valley and drive away all English intruders. The French 
also began to prepare for a conflict. In order to strengthen their 
position at the entrance of the Ohio region they built in 1752 a 
chain of three forts, one at Presq'isle (Erie), one twenty miles 
away at Lebceuf, and one at Venango (Franklin, Pennsylvania). 
Robert Dinwiddie, the governor of Virginia, promptly sent George 
Washington, the young adjutant-general of the Virginia militia, to 
remonstrate with the French against occupying territory which was 
''so notoriously known to be the property of the crown of Great 
Britain," but the governor was given to understand that the French 
would not budge an inch from their position. The governor now 
determined to force the issue. He made an attempt to build a fort 
at the forks of the Ohio — the junction of the Allegheny and 
Monongahela — and thus command the gateway of the Ohio Valley. 
But Dinwiddie 's men were driven from the forts by the French, 
who themselves built a fort upon the spot, calling it Fort Duquesne. 
In the first movement, accordingly, the French won their point; 
New France was now in complete possession of the West. 

The expulsion of the French would have been the easiest of tasks The spirit 
had there been united action on the part of the colonies, for the 
English colonists in America at this time outnumbered the French 
thirteen to one. But the spirit of union was lacking. Only in 
Virginia and New England were the people really eager to help in 
beating back the French power. In most of the other colonies 
petty jealousies and local interests arose to prevent union and co- 
operation. The spirit of disunion which was rife showed itself in 
the reception given to a scheme of union which was drawn up in 
1754 by Benjamin Franklin and adopted at Albany by delegates 
from seven colonies. This scheme, known as the Albany Plan of TheAibany 
Union, provided for a central "grand council" in which each 
colony should be represented according to its population — a fore- 
shadowing of the future national House of Representatives. The 



44 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 



CHAP. 
Ill 



England 
Moves 
Against the 
French 



grand council was to have such powers as would have enabled the 
colonies to throw their united strength against the French. But 
the time for colonial union had not yet come. The Albany plan 
was not well received either at home or in England. When it was 
submitted to the several colonial assemblies it was in every instance 
rejected. 

While the colonies were hesitating and wavering England was 
preparing for war. In 1755 British regulars under General Brad- 




Scene of the French and Indian War 

dock were sent to Virginia and plans were made for sending four 
expeditions against the French. One was to proceed against Fort 
Duquesne ; another was to proceed by water from New England 
against Acadia and Louisburg; a third was to move from Albany 
against the French fort at Niagara ; and a fourth was to march 
against Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point and thence against 
Quebec. The first expedition led by Braddock (in 1755) ended in a 
disastrous failure and left the French secure in their position at 
the forts of the Ohio. The second expedition was more successful ; 



THE STRUGGLE FOR A CONTINENT 45 

Acadia was seized, and the Acadians who were disaffected toward I c I j IAP - 

British rule were deported. After the seizure of Acadia in 1755 

the war lagged until 1758, when William Pitt, the virtual ruler of p- 1 ™ 3 ™ 
England, took matters in hand. Pitt not only gave new life to the 
contest but he completely changed the policy of England in regard 
to American affairs. Up to this time the policy had been simply to 
prevent the French from encroaching upon English territory; the 
new policy, as molded by Pitt, was to drive the French from the 
American continent. 

In carrying out his bold design Pitt followed the military plans f„|! and ' 8 
which had already been marked out. The expedition along the 
seacoast was completed, and in a few months Louisburg was in the 
hands of the English and the St. Lawrence was closed to the French. 
The expedition against Fort Duquesne was renewed, and that 
stronghold also fell quickly into the hands of the English. Next 
the fort at Niagara was captured, with the result that the French 
in Canada were cut off from the Ohio Valley. The purpose of 
three of these expeditions had now been accomplished. The fourth 
expedition was brought to a successful end by General Wolfe, who 
met Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham and precipitated the 
unconditional surrender of Quebec to the English. 

With the surrender of Quebec the French and Indian War, as The Treaty 

^ 'of 1763 

the struggle was called, virtually came to an end. The results of 
this war were seen in the Treaty of Paris which was concluded in 
1763. By this treaty it was agreed that all French possessions east 
of the Mississippi except the town of New Orleans and the island on 
which it stood should be given to England. Thus the French and 
Indian War gave England not only Canada but also the eastern 
portion of the Mississippi Valley. In 1759 England, waging war 
with Spain as well as with France, had taken possession of the 
island of Cuba. By the Treaty of Paris she agreed to give Cuba 
back to Spain and in return to receive Florida. On the same day 
that the treaty was signed the French king secretly ceded to Spain 
the city of New Orleans and the country known as Louisiana, 
spreading westward from the Mississippi toward the Pacific. Thus 
France lost every foot of land she had in North America except 
only two little islands — Miquelon and St. Pierre — in the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence. 



46 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 



Over the Mountains 



(HAP. 

in 



The King'i 

Proclama- 
tion 



Pontiac 



Kentucky 



The expulsion of the French from America was a severe blow to 
the Indians, for to their minds it foreshadowed their own expulsion. 
The red tribes felt that just as the English had conquered the 
French so they would conquer the Indians and drive them from 
their hunting grounds. When the Ohio Valley, therefore, passed 
under English control the redskins in this region threatened at 
once to rebel against their new masters. The English Government, 
wishing to avoid trouble, took means to conciliate them. The king 
in 1763 issued a proclamation reserving for the use of the Indians 
all the territory west of the heads or sources of the rivers flowing 
into the Atlantic. This shut the white man out from all the land 
which lay between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi. The proc- 
lamation created widespread dissatisfaction in the colonies, for it 
was a virtual surrender to the Indians of the best and largest part 
of the territory which had just been received from the French. 

The proclamation was issued in order to placate the Indians, but 
it came too late for its purpose. Before its terms were made known 
to the red men they had been led into a conspiracy by Pontiac, a 
chief of the Ottawas, to drive the English out of the Ohio Valley. 
This conspiracy resulted in the death of many settlers, but Pontiac 
was put down and compelled in 1766 to yield to British rule. Soon 
after the subjection of Pontiac and the tribes north of the Ohio, 
the tribes south of that river agreed to the treaty made in 1768 at 
Fort Stanwix, which provided that the Indians living south of the 
river should withdraw to the region north of it. The region north 
of the Ohio now became distinctly the ' ' Indian country. ' ' 

After the Treaty of Fort Stanwix pioneers pushed out into the 
western country in greater numbers than before. A steady stream 
of emigration flowed into the region now included within the 
borders of Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1769, Daniel Boone, set- 
ting out from North Carolina with a few companions, passed 
through the gorge of the Cumberland Gap and reached the blue- 
grass region of Kentucky. The expedition of Boone prepared the 
way for the rapid settlement of Kentucky. In 1774 James Ilarrod 
of Virginia with fifty men floated down the Ohio River in flatboats 
and, ascending the Kentucky River, founded the town of Harrods- 
burg. The next year Lexington was founded and two years later 
Louisville. 



CONDITIONS AT END OF THE COLONIAL PERIOD 47 

While Boone and his followers were laying the foundations of 
Kentucky other pioneers from Virginia and North Carolina were 
doing a similar work in Tennessee. In 1769 William Bean of Vir- 
ginia built a log cabin on the Watauga River, and within a few 
years there had risen a Watauga settlement consisting of several 
hundred pioneers. Most of these, like most of the pioneers of 
Kentucky, were backwoodsmen of sturdy Scotch-Irish stock, "ven- 
turesome and turbulent, determined and religious, good hunters 
and good fighters." 

The settlement of both Kentucky and Tennessee went on rapidly. 
Before the close of the colonial period there were probably 20,000 
inhabitants in the settlements beyond the mountains. Thus within 




CHAP. 

in 



Tennessee 



Early Kentucky and Tennessee 



a few years after the signing of the Treaty of Paris the westward 
movement had carried settlers far beyond the peaks of the Alle- 
ghanies, and the foundations of two Western States had been firmly 
laid. 

Conditions at the End of the Colonial Period 

At the end of the colonial period the colonies along the seaboard ordered 
presented a scene which had all the evidences of a well-ordered society 
society. A traveler in America in 1763 tells us that the most 
populous and flourishing parts of England made hardly a better 
appearance nor enjoyed a higher degree of civilization than did 
the New England colonies. With much truth the same thing might 
have been said of the middle and southern colonies also ; for at the 
end of the colonial period every colony was well started on the path 
of progress. 

The most significant feature of this progress was the rapidity The 
with which the colonies were increasing in population. The million population 



48 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

chap. anc ] a quarter of souls that could have been counted in 1750 had 
by 1775 grown to something like two million. "Such is the 
strength," said Burke in the English House of Commons, "with 
which population shoots up in that part of the world, that, state the 
numbers as high as w T e will, whilst the dispute continues the exag- 
geration ends. While we spend our time in deliberations on the 
mode of two millions, we shall find we have millions more to 
manage." 

a Rural T n every colony life was essentially rural. "Some few towns 

Civilization 

excepted," wrote a colonist, "we are all tillers of the soil." In 
New England the products of the soil were hardly sufficient to 
support the inhabitants. In the south the tillage of large planta- 
tions and the almost exclusive employment of slave labor had 
developed into a regular system. Only in North Carolina and in 
districts far back from the coast did the small farmer thrive. In 
the northern colonies, on the other hand, the system of small 
holdings in land prevailed. Here an able-bodied man with even 
limited means could easily secure possession of a small tract of land 
and become an independent farmer. 

M^nufac- Manufacturing at the end of the colonial period was the weakest 

element of the economic structure. The repressive measures of 
Parliament * had done their work so effectively that by 1760 the 
manufacturing industries were of less importance that they had, 
been in 1700. Prom one end of the seaboard to the other the people 
depended upon England for all the finer kinds of goods and for 
most of the articles of every-day use. Benjamin Franklin, writing 
of American manufactures in 1768, said: "In Massachusetts a 
little coarse woollen only, made in families for their own wear. 
Glass and linen have been tried, and failed. Rhode Island, Con- 
necticut, and New York much the same. Pennsylvania has tried a 
linen manufactory, but it is dropped, it being imported cheaper. 
There is a glass house in Lancaster County, but it makes only a 
little coarse ware for the country neighbours. Maryland is clothed 
all with English manufactures. Virginia the same, except that in 
their families they spin a little cotton of their own growing. South 
Carolina and Georgia none." 

Fishing Men who were not engaged in tilling the soil looked chiefly to the 

and Ship- „ ° ° J 

building sea tor employment and profit. In New England fishing continued 
to be a leading occupation. After the Treaty of Paris of 1763 

* See p. 32. 



CONDITIONS AT END OF THE COLONIAL PERIOD 49 

Americans could extend their fisheries as far north as Labrador, ^ AP- 

and by 1775 the crews of sixty New England ships were employed 

in the whale fishery. The mackerel and cod fisheries were even 
more important ; in 1763 Massachusetts alone had four hundred 
vessels engaged in them. Ship-building also continued to flourish 
in New England. On the Piscataqua four vessels were sometimes 
built in a week, while the total number built in New England in 
1769 was nearly four hundred. 

Hundreds of these vessels were engaged in an ocean carrying commerce 
trade that was building up the seaport towns and making their 
merchants rich. Next to agriculture, therefore, the stay and sup- 
port of the colonies was commerce. The triangular molasses-rum- 
slave trade which was profitable in 1700 1 was still more profitable 
sixty years later. Another lucrative triangular trade had been 
established between seaboard towns, the West Indies, and England. 
A ship loaded, for example, at Boston, with salt fish, staves, and 
lumber would sail to the West Indies, exchange her cargo for sugar 
and molasses, and proceed to London. Having exchanged the West 
Indian products of the sugar islands for goods of British manu- 
facture, she would return to Boston, clearing on the voyage a profit 
which was sometimes as high as 100 per cent. To a great extent 
colonial commerce rested upon the trade with the West Indies, yet 
ships went out from American ports to all parts of the world, to 
Surinam, to the Canaries, to the Levant, to Lisbon, and Madrid. 
The trade of the mother-country with her colonies gave employ- 
ment to 1100 ships and 29,000 sailors. The New England fleet 
alone numbered 600 sail. The volume of trade between Great 
Britain and her colonies in 1770 is shown in round numbers in the 

following table: 

Exports to Imports from 

Great Britain Great Britain 

New England $050,000 $1,750,000 

New York 300,000 2,100,000 

Pennsylvania 125,000 600,000 

Virginia and Maryland 2,000,000 3,200,000 

Carolinas 1,250,000 650,000 

Georgia 250,000 250,000 

Total $4,575,000 $8,550,000 

This table is full of instruction. It shows that of the exports to 
the mother-country nearly three fourths consisted of the tobacco, 
1 See p. 33. 



50 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

chap. r j ce> indigo, pitch, tar, and turpentine furnished by the southern 
colonies ; 1 that the southern colonies were good customers of Eng- 
land ; and that the balance of trade was nearly two to one in favor 
of Great Britain. 

smuggling There was one aspect of colonial commerce, however, that no 
table of statistics could reveal. This was the practice of smuggling 
and of evading the revenue laws, a practice that was a perennial 
source of trouble between the English Government and the colonies. 
For more than a century Parliament by a series of Navigation 
Laws had undertaken to restrict colonial trade to ships built and 
owned either in England or in the colonies and to prohibit the 
colonies from trading with foreign countries unless the goods were 
shipped through England. But these acts had never been strictly 
enforced. In respect to the all-important West Indian trade they 
had been flagrantly disregarded. ' ' Colonial captains, ' ' says R. G. 
Usher, "threw the statutes to the winds and sought the better 
market. The easy sale and the large profits, the willingness of 
officials and shipmasters to overlook statutes and grievances, and 
the lack of any coercive force to compel obedience resulted promptly 
in the development of a brisk and regular smuggling trade between 
the foreign sugar islands [i. e., the French, Dutch, and Spanish 
"West Indies] and the colonial merchants. Fraudulent clearance 
papers, and the possession of several sets of false certificates by 
most ship-captains lent a specious legality to these practices." In 
1733 Parliament in order to prevent the trade with the foreign 
sugar colonies passed the Molasses Act, imposing prohibitory duties 
on molasses, sugar, and rum imported into the American colonies 
from other than English possessions. But through smuggling the 
law soon became a dead letter. The colonists regarded the customs 
duties as unwarranted interference with trade, and they resorted 
to smuggling as an innocent device to secure redress for their 
wrongs. The result was that among a large class of merchants 
smuggling became one of the ordinary processes of commercial 
intercourse. It was carried on almost everywhere by everybody. 
Even the governors themselves sometimes shared in the profits of 
smuggling. Customs officers, who should have been the enemies of 
the practice, were as guilty as anybody. In 1765 Governor Bernard 
of Massachusetts said he did not believe there was an honest customs 
officer in America. 
1 See p. 33. 



CHRONOLOGY 



51 



Smuggling could be successful because English law in the colonies [^ AP ' 

was unsupported by public sentiment. The colonies had never 

taken the English Government very seriously, and by 1760 they £** . 
regarded themselves as being virtually outside the authority of j I 1 ^ r e 0wn 
Parliament. Of their political competency to make their own laws 
they had no doubt whatever. It is true they were forbidden by 
their charters to enact laws repugnant to the laws of England. 1 
Yet in one way and another they managed to govern themselves 
with such laws as they wanted even though they conflicted with 
enactments of Parliament. "The bottom of all the disorder," wrote 
Hutchinson of Massachusetts, "is the opinion that every colony has 
a legislature within itself, the acts and doings of which are not to 
be controlled by Parliament, and that no legislative power ought 
to be exercised over the colonies except by their legislatures. ' ' 

NOTES AND CHRONOLOGY 

[This matter is indexed. It does not include dates given or subjects treated 
in the main body of the text.] 



1684 Governor Dongan of New York enters into a treaty which brings the 
Iroquois under the protection of the English king. (The alliance 
with the Indians gave the English a defense on the frontier which 
they sorely needed.) 

James II becomes king of England. 

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, accompanied by terrible persecu- 
tions of the Huguenots. 

Sir Edmund Andros appointed governor of New England. 

Andros attempts to seize Connecticut charter. 

James II abdicates his throne and William of Orange becomes king with 
the title of William III. (Upon hearing of the revolution in 
England the people of Massachusetts overthrew the government of 
Andros. ) 

English settlements of Schenectady, New York, and Salem, New Hamp- 
shire, are destroyed by the French. 

Port Royal captured by Sir William Phipps. 

Leisler's Rebellion. (After James II was driven from his throne his 
successor, William III, sent out a governor to take the place of 
Andros, who was governor of New York, as well as of New England. 
Before the new governor arrived, however, the common people of 
New York had chosen Jacob Leisler, one of their wealthy towns- 
men, as governor. When the governor sent out by William III 
reached New York, Leisler refused to recognize his authority. For 
this offense he was hanged as a traitor. This incident, known as 
Leisler's Rebellion, created a lasting bitter feeling between the 
upper and lower classes in New York.) 

Massachusetts becomes a royal province, receiving a new charter. 

1 See p. 38. 



1685 



1686 
1687 
1689 



1690 



1691 



52 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

1692 Salem Witchcraft. (The people of Salem, Massachusetts, and several 
neighboring towns became possessed of the notion that witches — 
persons in secret alliance with Satan — were among them. About 
200 persons were accused, and since witchcraft was legally recog- 
nized as a crime scores of the supposed witches were arrested. 
Before the magistrates and people could regain their senses twenty 
innocent persons were tried, found guilty, and put to death.) 

1696 The Board of Trade and Plantations established to supersede the Lords 
of Trade. (After 1696 the Board of Trade had the management 
of colonial affairs.) 

1713 Treaty of Utrecht negotiated by England and France. (By its terms 

England was to have Acadia ; the Iroquois were acknowledged as 
English subjects ; Newfoundland was ceded to England ; the Hud- 
son Bay region was to be English territory. The treaty may be 
regarded as the beginning of American diplomatic history.) 

1714 George I crowned. 

1727 George II crowned King of England. 

1729 Carolinas are separated, and two colonies, North Carolina and South 

Carolina, are formed. 

1730 City of Baltimore was laid out. 

1734 John Zenger arrested for publishing attacks upon the Government but 
acquitted upon the ground that what he published was true. 
(Strenuous efforts were made to secure his conviction, but no jury 
could be found to convict him.) 

1741 New Hampshire finally separated from Massachusetts. 

1742 Benjamin Franklin invents his celebrated stove. 

1745 Louisburg taken from France by a force of British colonists under 
Sir William Pepperell. 

1755 Acadians deported. (During the French and Indian War the English 
sailed into the Bay of Fundy and took possession of the country 
round about known as Acadia. As the Acadians were wholly dis- 
affected toward the rule of the English it was thought good policy 
to rid the land of them, and seven thousand of these simple people 
— men, women, and children — were seized and carried to the colo- 
nies, being scattered along the coast from Massachusetts to 
Georgia.) 

Suggested Readings 

Colonial development, 1660-1763: Van Metre, pp. 90-120. 

Vanguard of the westward movement : McElroy, pp. 1-61. 

Early transatlantic settlements : Semple, pp. 75-92. 

Beginnings of an era, 1760-63 : Channing, Vol. Ill, pp. 1-29. 

Rivalry of England and France : Ogg, "The Opening of the Mississippi" ; 

pp. 214-295. 
Commercial regulations, 1763-75 : Lippincott, pp. 98-105. 
English and Spanish neighbors after 1763 : Ogg, pp. 294-399. 
Education at the end of the colonial period : Dexter, pp. 73-89. 
Trade and Navigation Laws : Fisher, Vol. I, pp. 36-49. 
Early colonial writers : Trent, pp. 22-37. 



1763 



IV 

THE REVOLUTION 

WITHIN two years after the signing of the Treaty of 1763 the 
legislative independence referred to in the last chapter was 
called into question by the British Government in such a way as 
to provoke a quarrel between the colonies and the mother-country. 
When the quarrel had led to deeds of violence and a peaceful 
settlement had become impossible, the War of the Revolution fol- 
lowed. 

The Quarrel 

The immediate effect of the Treaty of 1763 upon the colonies The Effects 
was to weaken the ties which bound them to Great Britain. So Treaty of 
long as the French were in Canada and in the Mississippi Valley the 
English settlements on the seaboard looked to the British Govern- 
ment to protect them from a power that might one day sweep 
southward and eastward and drive them from the face of the 
American continent. But after 1763 the fears of the colonists were 
no longer excited by the presence of the French. With them out 
of the way one of the strongest reasons the colonists had for cherish- 
ing the English connection was gone. 

The immediate effect of the Treaty of 1763 upon Great Britain 
was to give her the foremost place among the nations of the earth. 
For the French and Indian War was only one of the phases of the 
Seven Years' War of 1756-63, the outcome of which had tremendous 
significance for England. "The Seven Years' War," says Park- 
man, "made England what she is. It ruined France in two con- 
tinents and blighted her as a world power. It gave to England the 
control of the seas and the mastery of North America and India, 
made her the first of commercial nations, and prepared that vast 
colonial system that has planted new England in every quarter of 
the globe." 

But with empire came the concomitant burdens of debt and 
taxation. At the end of the French and Indian War England's 
debt was four times as great as it was when Braddock began his ill- 

53 



54 THE REVOLUTION 

{^ IAP - fated march toward Fort Duquesne. Much of the money which 
had been spent in driving the French from America had been taken 
out of the pockets of English taxpayers, and the heavy debt in- 
curred during the war had been placed upon English shoulders. 
As soon as the war was over English statesmen determined that 
such financing must cease and that the colonies must pay their 
way. They need not contribute anything to the English treasury 
for the exclusive benefit of Englishmen but they must support the 
colonial establishment. 

fnd^he Even before the close of the French and Indian War England 

smugglers ] ia( j ma( j e a m0 ve to improve her revenues by attempting to check 
the wholesale smuggling that was going on. She had grounds for 
taking firm steps in the matter, for she was being cheated out- 
rageously. The money she received from the customs duties 
amounted to almost nothing, and the cost of collecting it was far 
in excess of the revenues received. But the methods she employed 
were bound to irritate the liberty-loving Americans. Custom house 
officers armed with "writs of assistance" were authorized to break 
into vessels, warehouses, and dwellings and search for goods that 
were supposed to be concealed with the view of escaping the customs 
duties. The writ commanded the person to whom it was directed 
"to permit and aid the customs officer to enter vessels by day or 
night, and warehouses, cellars and dwellings by day only, and break 
open chests, boxes, and packages of all sorts in search of contraband 
goods. The writ was general and did not specify a particular house 
or particular goods. ... It was, in fact, a general authority to the 
customs officer to search everything and violate the ancient maxim 
that a man 's house is his castle. ' ' 1 Writs of this kind were freely 
issued in Massachusetts and in some of the other colonies, but they 
awakened the deep resentment of the people. In Massachusetts 
James Otis came forward in 1761 and protested against the writs 
in a speech charged with such eloquence and power that it came 
to be known as the "opening gun of the Revolution." 

The In 1764 Parliament decided to take a hand in the administration 

Sugar Act 

of the colonial revenues. It renewed, modified, and made more 
stringent the Molasses Act of 1733. 2 The Sugar Act — as the new 
law was called — raised the duty on sugar and lowered that on 
molasses. It imposed heavier penalties for smuggling and pre- 

1 S. G. Fisher, "American Independence" ; Vol. I, p. 52. 

2 See p. 50. 



THE QUARREL 55 

scribed regulations for enforcement so drastic that had they been J^ AP - 

carried out they would have put colonial trade in a strait- jacket. ' 

When it became known in America that Parliament was intending 
not only to pass the Sugar Act but was also planning its enforce- 
ment, men engaged in the West Indian trade felt that "sand was 
about to be thrown in the nicely adjusted bearings of a smoothly 
working commercial system." "The Sugar Act," said Stephen 
Hopkins, the governor of Rhode Island, "will put a total stop to -*. 

our exportation of lumber, horses, flour, and fish to the French and 
Dutch sugar colonies. . . . Putting an end to the importation of 
foreign molasses, at the same time puts an end to all the costly 
distilleries in these colonies, and to the rum trade to the coast of 
Africa, and throws it into the hands of the French. With the loss 
of the foreign molasses trade the cod fishery of the English in 
America must also be lost. Ministers have great influence and 
Parliaments great power: can either of them change the nature of 
things, stop all our means of getting money, and yet expect us to 
purchase and pay for British manufacture?" In the eyes of 
Samuel Adams the Sugar Act was something worse than an eco- 
nomic blunder: it was a menace to political liberty. "If our trade 
may be taxed," said he, "why not our lands? Why not the produce 
of our lands and everything we possess and make use of? If taxes 
are laid upon us in any shape without our having legal representa- 
tives where they are laid, are we not reduced from the character of 
free subjects to the miserable state of Tributary Slaves?" 

Samuel Adams foresaw what was coming. Immediately after Act Stamp 
the passage of the Sugar Act the English ministry proposed a law 
which provided that the colonists should place a government stamp 
ranging in price from threepence to ten pounds on a great variety 
of commercial and legal documents and upon certain publications, 
such as pamphlets, newspapers, almanacs, . and advertisements. 
George Grenville, the minister who proposed the tax, said : " It is 
highly reasonable the colonies should contribute something toward 
the charge of protecting themselves and in aid of the great expense 
Great Britain has put herself to on their account. No tax appears 
to me so easy and equitable as a stamp duty. It will fall only upon 
property, will be collected by the fewest officers, and will be equally 
spread over America and the West Indies. ... If the colonists 
think of any other mode of taxation more convenient to them, and 
make any proposition of equal efficacy with the stamp duty, I will 



56 



THE REVOLUTION 



CHAP. 
IV 



Resistance 



'Princi- 



give it all due consideration." The colonists being silent on the 
subject of a substitute tax, Grenville brought the Stamp Act into 
Parliament, and it was passed in March, 1765, in both Houses with 
as little opposition as a turnpike bill. "The passage of the act," 
said Franklin, who was in London at this time, "could not have 
been prevented any more easily than the sun 's setting. ' ' As for 
the legality of the tax, there was probably not a half a dozen 
members who did not believe that Parliament had full right to 
impose upon the colonies any kind of tax whatever. In England 
the passage of the Stamp Act created hardly a ripple of popular 
interest. "Nothing of note in Parliament," wrote Horace Walpole, 
' ' except one slight day on the American taxes. ' ' 

In the colonies it was far different. No sooner were the stamps 
ready for sale than resistance to the tax showed itself in a variety 
of ways. The offices of the stamp collectors were rifled, bells tolled 
the death of the nation, shops were closed, flags were hung at half- 
mast. In some places the stamps were seized upon by mobs and 
burned. Organized opposition to the act was strongest in Massa- 
chusetts and Virginia. In Virginia the party of resistance was led 
by Patrick Henry, who in May, 1765, hurried through the House 
of Burgesses, while it was sitting in committee of the whole, a 
resolution which declared that in respect to taxes Virginia was not 
subject to the authority of Parliament, that the assembly had the 
exclusive right and power to lay taxes upon the inhabitants of the 
colony, and that every attempt to vest such power in any other 
person or persons than the assembly was illegal, unconstitutional, 
unjust, and destructive of British as well as American liberty. 
From Massachusetts there was sent out a circular letter inviting 
all the colonies to send delegates to New York for the purpose of 
taking united action in regard to the Stamp Act. The proposed 
conference met in October, 1765, with delegates present from nine 
colonies. The Stamp Act Congress, as the meeting was called, 
claimed for Americans the same inherent rights as were enjoyed by 
Englishmen, and declared that since the colonists were not repre- 
sented in Parliament — and from the circumstances they could not 
be — their only lawful representatives were those chosen as members 
of the colonial legislatures. The colonial assembly, therefore, was 
the only body that could impose a tax upon the colonists. 

Thus both the Virginia resolutions and the declarations of the 
Stamp Act Congress raised a question that contained "a principle 




*y a. r>S >^^7<?hz^7 



-t^ 



THE QUARREL 57 

of fire": Should the colonies be taxed without the consent of {^ap. 

representatives chosen by themselves? A satisfactory representa- 

tion of the colonies in Parliament was wholly impracticable and 
out of the question. Englishmen would hardly have been willing 
to accord proportional representation — the kind the colonists would 
have demanded, — for they saw that if the colonies, growing as they 
were in population and resources, should be allowed seats in Par- 
liament according to numbers, it would be only a few decades 
before the American members in Parliament would be outvoting the 
English members. To the complaint of the Americans in respect 
to representation Englishmen replied that the colonies were already 
represented; that Parliament legally represented every man, 
woman, and child within the bounds of the British Empire. Massa- 
chusetts and Virginia, it was true, sent no representatives to 
Parliament. Neither did Manchester and Birmingham, yet who 
would say that those two cities were unrepresented in Parliament? 
What English notions of representation were may be learned from 
John Richard Green's account of the composition of Parliament at 
this time : ' ' Great towns like Manchester or Birmingham remained 
without a member, while members still sat for boroughs which like 
Old Sarum had actually vanished from the face of the earth. The 
efforts of the Tudor sovereigns to establish a court party in the 
House by a profuse creation of boroughs, most of which were then 
mere villages in the hands of the Crown, had ended in the appro- 
priation of these seats by the neighboring landowners, who bought 
and sold them as they bought and sold their own estates. Even in 
towns which had a real claim to representation, the narrowing of 
municipal privileges to a small part of the inhabitants rendered 
their representation a mere name. The choice of such places hung 
simply on the purse or influence of politicians . . . the suffrage 
was ridiculously limited and unequal. Out of a population of 
eight millions of English people only a hundred and sixty thousand 
were electors at all. . . . Purchase was . . . the . . . means of 
entering Parliament. Seats were bought and sold in open market 
at a price which rose to four thousand pounds ; and we can hardly 
wonder that a reformer could allege without a chance of denial: 
1 This House is not a representative of the people of Great Britain. 
It is the representative of nominal boroughs, of ruined and exter- 
minated towns, of noble families, of wealthy individuals, of foreign 
potentates.' " It was not in such a bodv as this that the colonists 



58 



THE REVOLUTION 



wished to be represented ; in truth they never seriously thought of 
being represented in the English Parliament at all. They were 
content with the representation which they had in their colonial 
legislatures. "Taxation without representation" was a popular 
slogan of great power in the early stages of the quarrel between 
England and her colonies, but neither side seriously hoped or 
strongly desired that the remedy of representation should be ap- 
plied. 

The fire kindled throughout the colonies by the Stamp Act 
burned with such a threatening flame that the British Government 
took alarm ; it was fearful that it had gone too far. Its action was 
attacked on the floor of Parliament. Pitt in a fiery speech said 
that Parliament had entire authority to bind the trade of the 
colonists, confine their manufactures, and legislate for them in all 
cases whatsoever "except that of taking the money out of their 
pockets without their consents." Franklin, who was on the scene 
in London, told the House of Commons that it was of no use to try 
to enforce the Stamp Act ; an army could not do it. Accordingly, 
upon the advice of Pitt, Franklin, and other leaders, the ministry 
caused the Stamp Act to be entirely repealed in March, 1766. 
Along with the repeal, however, Parliament passed the Declaratory 
Act asserting that the colonies were, and of a right ought to be, 
subordinate to and dependent upon the crown and Parliament of 
Great Britain, and that the English Government had full power 
and authority to make laws for the governing of the colonies in all 
cases whatever. This was as much as to say that although Parlia- 
ment out of deference to the colonists had repealed the Stamp Act, 
it had no intention of renouncing its power to tax them in whatever 
way it saw fit. 

In spite of the fact that the Declaratory Act was a fly in the 
ointment, the repeal of the Stamp Act was regarded by the Ameri- 
cans as a victory for their cause, and there was great rejoicing in 
the colonies. But the joy was short-lived, for in the year after the 
repeal Parliament enacted two laws proposed by Charles Town- 
shend for the regulation of colonial trade and the government of 
the colonies. The first of the Townshend Acts provided for a more 
rigid enforcement of the acts of trade already in existence. The 
second imposed duties on wine, oil, lard, glass, paper, and tea 
imported into the colonies. The revenue. was to be used for paying 
the salaries of the governors, judges, and other colonial officers, it 



THE QUARREL 59 

being the avowed object of the English Government to make these £hap. 
colonial officials independent of the assemblies. For the collection 
of the duties strong measures were to be taken : writs of assistance 
were to be employed and persons accused of violating the customs 
laws were to be tried by admiralty courts without juries. 

Parliament hoped that the Townshend Acts would be acceptable 
to the colonies because the taxes imposed were external; that is, 
they were laid on foreign goods coming into American ports. 
There was an impression in England that the Americans objected 
only to internal taxes ; that is, to such levies as their legislatures 
were accustomed to make. But Englishmen did not fully com- 
prehend the situation. The real trouble with the Townshend Acts 
was that they were to be enforced ; commissioners were to be sent 
to America to execute the provisions of the laws. All the colonists 
had said about the rightfulness of external taxes and the uncon- 
stitutionality of internal taxes was forgotten when they were 
brought face to face with an import duty that could not be evaded 
by smuggling. If money was to be taken out of their pockets, what 
difference did it make, some one wittily asked, whether it was taken 
from the vest pocket or from the waistcoat? Hence, when the test 
came, the colonists found that they objected to any kind of tax 
whatever, and their opposition to the Townshend Acts was as bitter 
as it had been to the Stamp Act. Their conduct was not so dis- 
orderly and riotous, but their resistance was fully as effective. 
They entered into an agreement not to import English goods so ^p ^ t ° a "" ion 
long as the duties were laid. The result of the boycott was that A s reement 
exports to America fell within a year from £2,400,000 ($12,000,- 
000) to £1,600,000 ($8,000,000). The loss to British merchants 
was so disastrous that Parliament was forced in April, 1770, to 
repeal the duties on paints, glass, and paper, but the tax on tea 
was retained in order to assert the principle that Parliament had 
the taxing power. Thus Parliament was frustrated in the case of 
the Townshend Acts almost as completely as it had been in the case 
of the Stamp Act. 

The tax on tea had been retained at the suggestion of George III anTtL 
The king was now in full control of Parliament. "Not only did 
the king direct the Minister in all important matters of foreign 
and domestic policy, but he instructed him as to the management 
of debates in Parliament, suggested what motions should be made 
or opposed, and how measures should be carried. He reserved for 



60 



THE REVOLUTION 



himself all the patronage, he arranged the whole cost of the admin- 
istration. ... He disposed of military governments, regiments, 
and commissions and himself ordered the marching of troops." 
This great power was retained by the king for twelve years and, if 
we are to believe the historian, John Richard Green, the disasters 
which overtook the country within the fateful period of his 
supremacy lie wholly at his door. As he was an autocrat by nature, 
the democratic American colonists were objects of his peculiar 
aversion. His policy toward the colonies from the first was one 
of stern repression, and many times did they feel his heavy hand. 
"The following," said Thomas Jefferson, "is an epitome of the 
first sixteen years of George III 's reign : The colonies were taxed 
internally and externally; their essential interests sacrificed to 
individuals in Great Britain; their Legislatures suspended; char- 
ters annulled ; trials by jury taken away ; their persons subjected 
to transportation across the Atlantic and to trial before foreign 
judicatories; their supplications for redress thought beneath an- 
swer ; armed troops sent among them to enforce submission to these 
violeneies; and actual hostilities commenced against them." Be- 
tween George III, therefore, and the colonies there could be no 
friendly relation. Early in his reign he began to look upon his 
loving American subjects as rebels, while they in turn regarded 
their gracious sovereign as a tyrant. 

The animosity toward the crown and the bitter controversy with 
Parliament over taxes gradually brought about a division of senti- 
ment among the people, so that by 1770 two parties in the colonies 
were in process of formation. One of these took the side of England 
in the quarrel and because of its steadfastness was generally known 
as the Loyalist party, although its adherents were often called 
Tories. Among the Loyalists were the more important colonial 
officers, most of the leading men of wealth, and conservative people 
of all classes. The other faction was the American or Patriot party. 
These were the liberty-loving men whose loyalty to America caused 
them to forget their allegiance to England. For the most part they 
were radicals ready to resist the mother-country upon the least 
provocation. 

For a while most of the aggressive Patriots were persons who 
moved in the lower walks of life, but in time men like George 
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John 
Adams aligned themselves with the Patriot party. In England the 



THE QUARREL 61 

Patriots' cause was strengthened by the action of powerful states- ^ AP - 
men who supported the Americans in the taxation quarrel. Lord 
Camden said : ' ' My lords, you have no right to tax America. The 
natural rights of man and the inevitable laws of nature are with 
that People." The great Pitt said: "Sir, I rejoice that America 
has resisted." Edmund Burke was opposed to taxing the colonies; 
he said that Parliament had the right to tax them, but that it was 
foolish to attempt to exercise the right. The Tory party in England 
was almost solid against the Patriots, but the Whigs generally took 
sides with them. There were contradictions and inconsistencies in 
the arguments used by the Whigs in defense of the Americans and 
in those used by the Tories in opposing them, yet English sentiment 
in regard to the colonies followed rather closely the line of existing 
party cleavage. As the quarrel grew more bitter party division 
grew sharper until at last the whole strength of the Tories with 
George III at their head was thrown against the Americans. Thus, 
in a sense the Revolution may be regarded as a civil war within 
the Britjsh Empire in which English and American conservatives 
were aligned on one side and English and American liberals on the 
other. 

At the head of the Patriots was Samuel Adams. In the fight Adams 
with England Massachusetts led the colonies, Boston led Massa- 
chusetts, and Samuel Adams led Boston. Although he was a man 
of talent and education, and although he had reached the prime of 
life when the quarrel with England arose, Adams had as yet 
accomplished very little. After he was graduated at Harvard Col- 
lege he trifled for a while with the study of the law and then went 
into business for himself. But having no aptitude for business and 
being devoid of the acquisitive instinct he abandoned commercial 
pursuits and devoted himself to the service of the public. As a 
champion of popular rights his devotion was single-minded and 
his industry unflagging. It was he who led the opposition in 
Massachusetts to the Stamp Act, and it was he who brought about 
concerted action against the Townshend Acts. On March 5, 1770 — 
the day that Parliament repealed the tax off paint, glass, and paper 
— the incident known as the Boston Massacre gave Samuel Adams M h a e SS a°? 
another opportunity to serve the Patriot party. Some British 
soldiers who were stationed in Boston fired into a crowd, and four 
citizens lay dead on the snow-covered streets. The soldiers were 
not entirely to blame, for the crowd had pelted them with balls of 



62 THE REVOLUTION 

ice and had dared them to fire. The Bostonians flew into a rage. 
Drums beat and men, women, and children rushed into the streets 
crying for revenge. The Patriot party painted the affair in its 
darkest colors, representing it to be "a ferocious and unprovoked 
assault by brutal soldiers upon a defenseless people." Three 
thousand citizens flocked to Faneuil Hall, where angry speeches 
were made. At the meeting Samuel Adams urged that the troops 
be removed from Boston at once, contending that the British 
Government had no more right to maintain a standing army in 
the colonies than it had to tax them. At the request of the citizens 
he left the meeting and went before Governor Hutchinson with a 
demand for the immediate removal of the troops. Adams had his 
way: the troops were promptly taken to a place where their pres- 
ence caused less resentment. From this time Samuel Adams held 
the Boston populace in the hollow of his hand. 

A revolutionist by nature, Samuel Adams thought only in terms 
of revolt, and for revolution he worked day and night. He eagerly 
seized upon the Committee of Correspondence as an agency for 
welding the colonies into some kind of union so that the "thirteen 
clocks could strike at the same time." In November, 1772, he 
caused the Boston town meeting to establish a Committee of Corre- 
spondence which was to state and make public the rights of the 
colonists and communicate with the other colonies in reference to 
measures that Americans should take to defend their rights. 
"The Boston Committee of Correspondence has been likened to a 
political party manager. It provided for regular meetings, con- 
sulted with similar bodies in the vicinity, stimulated the spread of 
committees in surrounding towns, kept up a correspondence with 
them, prepared political matter for the press, circulated it in 
newspapers and broadsides, matured political measures, created 
and guided public sentiment — in short, heated the popular temper 
to the boiling point of revolution and then drew from it the 
authority to act. ' ' * The idea of such committees was well received 
by the Patriots. In Virginia Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson 
were so heartily in favor of the movement that in March, 1773, 
they caused the House of Burgesses to appoint a standing Com- 
mittee of Correspondence. By July, 1773, committees had been 
established in six colonies. These committees, the model of which 

'Bolton and Hall, "The Colonization of North America"; p. 446. 



THE QUARREL 63 



CHAP. 
IV 



The Tea 
Contro- 



was furnished by Samuel Adams, not only became efficient agents 
for creating a public opinion that was to set a revolution in motion, 
but they were also the beginning of a political union which was to 
grow stronger and stronger and within a quarter of a century was 
to develop into our American commonwealth. ' 

The tea controversy gave Samuel Adams an opportunity to 
assert his leadership in a highly dramatic fashion. The tax that versy 
had been retained on tea when the Townshend Acts were repealed 
met with the same resistance that had been offered to the other 
taxes ; tea continued to be boycotted as glass, paper, and paint had 
been. But George III attempted to force tea down colonial throats. 
In May, 1773, the East India Co. was given permission to export 
tea from England directly to America free of all English customs, 
and was also allowed to establish its stores in America. It was the 
idea of the British Government that the tea would now surely be 
bought and the tax paid, for the company could pay the small 
threepenny duty and still sell its tea at a price much lower than it 
could be sold by the ordinary American merchant, even though his 
stock was smuggled. But the tea was not bought. In the autumn 
of 1773 ships loaded with tea arrived at New York, Philadelphia, 
Boston, and Annapolis, but at none of these ports could the tea be 
landed and sold. At the different ports the tea ships were received 
with different manifestations of popular odium. In Boston the 
arrival of the tea was followed by an act of downright lawlessness. 
A band of men dressed as Indians boarded the vessels carrying the 
tea and threw into Boston harbor the contents of three hundred 
chests. Samuel Adams was not a member of this "tea-party," but 
everybody in Boston knew that he was the instigator of the riotous 
business. 

In bringing about the destruction of the tea Adams endeared 
himself to many American merchants who had tea to sell but who 
could not compete with the East India Co. For there was a fear 
in some circles that this powerful corporation was about to estab- 
lish a monopoly in America and glut its avarice in other ways. 
"They [the East India Co.]," said John Dickinson, "cast their 
eyes on America, a new theater, whereon to exercise their talents 
of rapine, oppression, and cruelty. The monopoly of tea is, I dare 
say, but a small part of the plan they have formed to strip us of 
our property." Accordingly, in opposing the landing of the tea 
Adams and his followers killed two birds with one stone: they set 



64 



THE REVOLUTION 



CHAP. 
IV 



Repressive 

Measures 



their faces firmly against a hated principle of taxation and at the 
same time struck a blow at monopoly. 

Whether the destruction of the tea was due chiefly to the tax or 
chiefly to an apprehension that the English company was about to 
establish a monopoly in the tea trade was a question the British 
Government could not stop to consider when it was informed of 
the event. There had been a wanton and deliberate destruction of 
property and prompt action was necessary. To remain passive 
was to sanction a revolution. Both George III and Parliament 
were convinced that the time had come when the Americans must 
feel the heavy hand of power. Parliament quickly passed (1774) a 
series of repressive measures designed to bring the Patriots of 
Massachusetts to their senses: (1) No ship was to enter or leave 
the port of Boston until the town should pay for the tea; (2) Mas- 
sachusetts was to lose its charter and was to be brought under the 
king's direct control; (3) English officers or soldiers, when ques- 
tioned in the colonies concerning acts done while in the discharge 
of their duties, might be taken to England for trial; (4) troops 
might be quartered in any colony, and if quarters were not 
promptly furnished, "uninhabited houses, barns, or other buildings 
might be used, payment at reasonable rates being made for such 
use." These four "Intolerable Acts" — as the coercive measures 
were called — were aimed directly at Massachusetts. 1 And the royal 
hand that signed the law was in deadly earnest. To enforce the 
measures the king in exultant mood despatched at once four regi- 
ments to America. "The die," he wrote triumphantly to his 
minister, Lord North, "is cast. The colonies must either triumph 
or submit." 



1 The Quebec Act, a fifth act, had no direct reference to Massachusetts and 
was not intended to be offensive to New England in any way. This annexed 
to the province of Quebec the region which soon came to be known as the 
Northwest Territory and included what are now the States of Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. This region, by the terms of the act, was 
to be ruled by an arbitrary government. It was to have no elective legislature, 
and, except for local purposes, it was to be taxed by Parliament. Moreover 
it was provided by the act that the Catholic religion might be freely exercised 
throughout the region. Although the Quebec Act was an honest attempt by 
England to provide a suitable government for a part of the territory taken 
from France in 1763, it was nevertheless regarded by the colonies as inimical 
to their interests. It seemed to give the Ohio country over to a French rather 
than to an English civilization. The measure pleased Canada greatly, but it 
displeased Virginia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, the colonies which claimed 
territory in the region, and were expecting some day to profit by their claims. 




A CARTOON OF 1774 

Bostonians pay the excise man; or Tarring and feathering 



BLOWS AND SEPARATION 65 



Blows and Separation 

For George III and Parliament to use repressive measures in chap. 

dealing with Massachusetts was to play into the hands of Samuel 

Adams. That irrepressible Patriot saw that if he himself had Samuel 

x Adams 

dictated the Intolerable Acts he could not have devised anything ^voit* 
better calculated to bring on the revolution for which he was 
spoiling. No sooner did he hear of the acts of Parliament than he 
set into motion the machinery of propaganda and resistance. 
Through his Committees of Correspondence he sent out to the 
people in all the colonies a circular letter which pointed out the 
injustice and cruelties by which the inhabitants of Massachusetts 
had been condemned unheard. "This attack," ran the circular, 
"though made immediately upon us, is doubtless designed for 
every other colony who shall not surrender their sacred rights and 
liberties into the hands of an infamous ministry. Now, therefore, 
this is the time when all should be united in this opposition to the 
violation of the liberties of all. The single question, then, is whether 
you consider Boston as now suffering in the common cause, and 
sensibly feel and resent the injury and affront offered to her." 

These words struck home. Every colony perceived that the cause The 

Response 

of Massachusetts was its own cause. If the British Parliament of the 

Colonies 

could cancel the charter of one colony and ruin the trade of one 
port it could cancel the charter of every colony and ruin the trade 
of any port from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. The 
colonists saw this, and when in June, 1774, the law which closed 
the port of Boston went into effect assistance for the beleaguered 
town came not only from Massachusetts but from the other colonies 
as well. South Carolina sent two hundred barrels of rice. North 
Carolina and Maryland made liberal contributions in money. Con- 
necticut gave large supplies of provisions and sent words of cheer: 
"We are willing to sacrifice all that is dear and valuable to us 
rather than suffer the patriotic inhabitants of Boston to be over- 
whelmed by their adversaries." From the Old Dominion came 
money, supplies, and, better than these, sympathetic words from 
George Washington : "If need be, I will raise one thousand men, 
subsist them at my own expense, and march myself at their head for 
the relief of Boston." 

Where the spirit of union was so strong, organization for resist- The First 
ance could proceed rapidly. Within two days after a copy of the congress 



66 



THE REVOLUTION 



CHAP. 

IV 



"Americans 

Cannot 

Submit" 



Port Act was received in Boston the Committees of Correspondence 
began to bestir themselves, taking measures for the establishment 
of a central organization of some kind through which the colonies 
might act in unison. The first thing done was to send out a call for 
a congress of delegates representative of all the colonies, the mem- 
bers of the proposed congress "to be appointed either by their 
respective houses of burgesses, or by convention, or by the com- 
mittees of correspondence." The delegates were to meet as a 
"colonial or continental congress" at Philadelphia in September, 
1774. All the colonies except Georgia having responded to the call, 
more than fifty delegates assembled in Carpenters' Hall in Phila- 
delphia. The personnel of the assemblage, known as the First 
Continental Congress, included many of the leading men of Amer- 
ica : John Adams and Samuel Adams from Massachusetts ; Stephen 
Hopkins and Samuel West from Rhode Island ; Roger Sherman and 
Silas Deane from Connecticut ; John Jay and Philip Livingston 
from New York ; John Dickinson and Joseph Galloway from Penn- 
sylvania ; Samuel Chase from Maryland ; Peyton Randolph, Richard 
Henry Lee, George Washington, and Patrick Henry from Virginia ; 
John Rutledge and Christopher Gadsden from South Carolina. 
The Congress, of course, had no powers that it could claim as 
lawfully belonging to it; it was simply a gathering of British 
subjects met to discuss the unhappy relations which existed between 
England and her colonies and to restore harmony if that were 
possible. 

The majority of the Congress consisted of radicals who, led by 
Samuel Adams, were for open resistance. A strong minority, how- 
ever, led by Joseph Galloway, favored compromise and peaceful 
methods of dealing with the situation. After a great deal of dis- 
cussion the Congress characterized the Intolerable Acts as "un- 
politic, unjust and cruel as well as unconstitutional" and approved 
of the opposition of Massachusetts to those measures ; it declared 
that the colonies could not be taxed except by their own assemblies ; 
it enumerated the acts passed by Parliament since 1763 to which 
the Americans were opposed and declared that ' ' to these grievous 
measures Americans cannot submit." The most important action 
taken by the Congress was to plan for an American ' ' Association, ' ' 
the purpose of which was to carry into effect a policy of non- 
importation and non-consumption of British goods. The Congress 
dissolved in October. May 10, 1775, was set as the date for the 



BLOWS AND SEPARATION 67 

holding of another Congress at Philadelphia "unless the redress of J^ap. 
grievances which we have discussed be obtained before that time. ' ' 

But it was hardly worth while now to talk about the redress of ™!; trainin 
grievances. The British Government was bent on a policy of Act 
repression, and the colonists were animated with the spirit of 
resistance. It is true a conciliatory resolution was passed by the 
House of Commons in February, 1775, but in less than a month 
this was nullified by the Restraining Act which confined the com- 
merce of the New England colonies to Great Britain, Ireland, and 
the West Indies and prohibited the New Englanders from fishing 
in the northern fisheries until "the trade and commerce of his 
Majesty's subjects may be carried on without interruption." This 
act only stiffened the resistance of the Massachusetts Patriots, who 
were already in a fighting mood and at every turn were checking 
General Gage, who had been made governor of Massachusetts and 
had been placed in complete command at Boston. But the author- 
ity of Gage and his new royal government received no recognition 
outside of Boston. The colony at large recognized the authority 
of a provincial congress which was organized by the Patriots in 
utter defiance of the orders of Gage, and which held its first meet- 
ing at Salem in October, 1774. This revolutionary body undertook 
the organization of an army, and before the winter of 1774-75 had 
passed eastern Massachusetts was bristling with men carrying 
muskets. 

Gage, who determined that the provincials must be disarmed Lexington 
and their munitions of war destroyed, sent, on April 19, 1775, a Concord 
detachment of troops to destroy the military stores at Concord and 
to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock at Lexington. The 
expedition was a wretched failure. At Concord the British troops 
met such a sturdy resistance from the rustic militia that their offi- 
cers determined it would be best to return to Boston at once. On 
the way back they were peppered from behind houses and trees 
and stone fences with such deadly results that by the time they 
reached Boston they had lost in killed and wounded nearly three 
hundred of their number. 

Everybody knew that a bloodv struggle had now begun, and Arnold and 

, ° ° ' Allen 

wherever a blow could be given it was dealt. Benedict Arnold saw 
that the Americans ought to have possession of Ticonderoga and 
Crown Point and with a few troops he straightway marched against 
these forts. Acting with Ethan Allen, a dashing leader of the 



68 THE REVOLUTION 

chap. Green Mountain Boys of Vermont, he surprised Tieonderoga. The 
fort had but a handful of men, and it was compelled to surrender 
on May 10, 1775. The capture of Crown Point quickly followed. 
The Even swifter than the military movements of the Patriots was 

Bekethe their political activity. Relays of heralds carried the news of the 
Power fighting at Lexington and Concord from one end of the land to 
the other. By the middle of 1775 the colonies were seething with 
the spirit of revolt. Colonial legislatures passed into the control 
of the Patriots and royal governors were ousted from office. By 
the end of 1775, outside of the town of Boston, the power of 
government was everywhere wielded by Patriots. 
Loyalists But ^ ie authority of the Patriots in some places was sharply 

challenged by the Loyalists, some of whom were now showing their 
colors and coming out strongly for England. In some of the 
colonies, as in New York and Pennsylvania, the Loyalists, or 
Tories, were very numerous, and they had it in their power to 
thwart the plans of the Patriots, and did thwart them as far as they 
dared. In strong Tory centers there was a clash between the two 
parties that resembled civil war. After Lexington the Tories 
became intolerable to the Patriots and were subjected to a treat- 
ment which was violative of every principle of civil liberty. Loy- 
alists "were ridden and tossed on fence rails; were gagged, and 
bound for days at a time ; pelted with stones ; fastened in rooms 
where there was a fire with the chimney stopped on top. Their 
homes and shops were burned ; they were compelled to pay the 
guards who watched them in their homes." More to the purpose, 
they were disarmed; their houses were entered and all the arms 
and ammunition that could be found were seized. This disarming 
of the Loyalists in a thorough and systematic manner was one of 
the most important steps taken by the Patriots, for without their 
guns the Loyalists could offer but a tame and impotent resistance. 
The Patriots justified this reign of terror on the ground that an 
American Loyalist was as dangerous as a British soldier and had to 
be dealt with as severely. "A Loyalist," said they, "is a thing 
whose head is in England, whose body is in America, and its neck 
ought to be stretched." The policy of persecution did its work: 
early in the revolutionary movement the Loyalists were completely 
subdued and cowed. Had they been permitted to gain headway 
and exert their full strength, the course of events might have been 



BLOWS AND SEPARATION 69 

very different from what it was, for in many places the Loyalists ^ AP - 
outnumbered the Patriots. 



There were a few Loyalists in the Second Continental Congress ™n t fnentei 
which met at Philadelphia on the appointed day, but their influence Con g ress 
was negligible. Although in this Congress moderate men were in 
the majority, the bloodshed at Lexington a few weeks before had 
made it impossible for them to countenance men of the Loyalist 
type. The colonies and Great Britain were in a state of actual 
warfare. On the very day on which the Congress met an important 
fort fell into the hands of the Patriots, and forces were gathering 
around Boston for another clash. Hence, while the Congress, as a 
measure of prudence, declared in favor of a policy of conciliation, 
it at the same time addressed itself to tasks relating to war. 

Not only was war in progress but civil government in the j^^j! 
colonies was in the utmost confusion. If England was to be no Responsi- 

° bihty 

longer obeyed, where did authority lie? For an answer to this 
question men turned to the Congress at Philadelphia. The pro- 
vincial congress of Massachusetts sought advice "respecting taking 
up and exercising the power of civil government, ' ' and pledged its 
submission to such advice as might be given. Here was a perplex- 
ing problem for the moderates. This provincial congress, as we 
have seen, was an out-and-out revolutionary body. Was it to be 
recognized as lawful? The Congress shouldered the responsibility 
and decided that no obedience was due to the Intolerable Acts 
and that the provincial congress had the right to organize a new 
assembly. With that decision the Congress itself took on the com- 
plexion of a revolutionary assemblage. Proceeding further on the 
road to revolution, it undertook to deal with the military situation. 
It recommended that the various assemblies and conventions pro- 
vide ammunition and arms, recruit soldiers, and hasten the assem- 
bling of forces ; it adopted as its own the troops which had gathered 
around Boston and provided for this new Continental Army a full 
staff of officers ; it provided for the fitting out of vessels for a navy. 
It did not stop with the exercise of the military function, but acted 
in several other ways as a duly authorized government is accus- 
tomed to act : it borrowed money and thus created a national debt ; 
it issued a paper currency; it communicated with foreign govern- 
ments; it assumed the management of a postal system; it created 
a department of Indian affairs. All these things it did at its first 



70 



THE REVOLUTION 



George 
Washington 



™ AP - session. Thus the Second Continental Congress was hardly organ- 

ized before it began to give form and direction to the scattered and 

unorganized forces of the colonies and lay the foundation of a 
central government and of national sovereignty. 

The most important thing done by the Congress at its first session 
was, on June 15, to elect George Washington commander-in-chief 
of the Continental Army. The man chosen as the head of the 
newly organized army was a member of the Congress and was 
present in his uniform. He belonged to the moderates, but as he 
felt that there was now no hope save in arms, he accepted the 
command. When the choice was made he rose in his seat and 
said: "Since the Congress desires, I will enter upon the momen- 
tous duty and exert every power I possess in this service and for 

support of the glorious 
cause. ' ' The destinies 
of the Revolution were 
now transferred from 
the hands of Samuel 
Adams to those of 
George Washington. 

The commander - in - 
chief hurried northward 
to the scene of his 
duties; but before he 

reached Boston great 
Boston and Vicinity ,1 • i -i i j 

J things had happened 

there. After the Concord affair colonial troops kept swarming to 

BimkerHm the scene of hostilities, and in June the redcoats and Americans 

met in pitched battle on Breed's Hill (Bunker Hill). 1 The British 

won the hill and held it, but a few more such victories would have 

meant the destruction of their army, for they lost more than twice 

as many men as the Americans. "In the eight years of the 

Revolution, ' ' says General F. V. Greene, ' ' there was no battle more 

bloody, none more important. The Americans, without proper 

organization, equipment, or support, had fought the best regular 

troops of England and had repulsed them until their ammunition 

had given out. All th© advantages of victory were on their side." 

x The Americans, in the darkness, mistook Breed's Hill for Bunker Hill, 
which they had intended to fortify and which gave its name to the battle. 




BLOWS AND SEPARATION 



71 



"When Washington arrived in Boston he found an army of about 
15,000 men, poorly armed, raw, and inexperienced. Yet the news 
of Bunker Hill assured him that it was an army that could fight. 
Taking command at once he began to drill his men and equip them 
with ammunition and supplies. 1 By the spring of the following 
year he felt that he could give battle to the British. On the night 
of March 4 he quietly fortified Dorchester Heights which overlooked 
Boston. The next morning General Howe could see that either 
Washington's forts would have to be taken or the British would 
have to leave Boston. He decided that the best thing to do was to 
leave. Putting his men on board ships and taking with him about 
11,000 soldiers and 1000 Loyalist refugees, he sailed away, on 
March 17, 1776, for Nova" Scotia, leaving behind a large amount of 
supplies and military stores. This dislodgment of the British from 
their position in Boston was Washington's first stroke, and it was 
a masterful one, for it rid New England of British troops. So far 
as actual warfare was concerned, therefore, the Revolution in New 
England ended almost as soon as it was begun. 

The evacuation of Boston was soon followed by one of the great- 
est events in the history of man's perennial struggle for freedom. 
This was the declaration by Congress of the independence of the 
colonies. Many of the leaders who had taken a bold stand against 
England hesitated when they considered a measure so desperate 
as complete separation. In June, 1775, Washington declared that 
he was working for peace and harmony, but every day the ties of 
loyalty grew weaker. In January, 1776, Washington was flying 
the Continental flag in front of his headquarters at Cambridge and 
was openly advocating independence. It is true efforts at concilia- 
tion continued to be made, but after the fighting in Massachusetts 
neither side was any longer in a humor for compromise ; indeed by 
the end of 1775 the time for compromise had gone by. In October, 
1775, George III .in an address to Parliament had made it plain 
that he would be satisfied with nothing less than the complete 
submission of the colonists. Two months later Parliament passed 
the law known as the Prohibitory Act, which, supplementing the 
Restraining Act, 2 prohibited all nations from trading with the 

1 While the drilling was going on, Richard Montgomery and Arnold under- 
took to rapture Quebec, Montgomery advancing by way of Lake Champlain 
and Arnold by the way of the Maine wilderness. The two armies joined and 
laid siege to Quebec, but were unable to take it. 

2 See p. 07. 



CHAP. 
IV 



Boston 
Evacuated 



The 

Movement 
for Indepen 
dence 



The 

Prohibitory 

Act 



72 



THE REVOLUTION 



CHAP. 
IV 



Paine's 
"Common 

Sense" 



Indepen- 
dence 
Declared 



American colonies and provided that all ships engaged in colonial 
trade were to be forfeited with their cargoes and become lawful 
prizes of war. Again Parliament had played into the hands of the 
radicals. The law, being a virtual declaration of war, furnished 
them with an excuse for throwing off all allegiance to the king. 
John Adams regarded this act as the straw that broke the camel's 
back. "It throws thirteen colonies," he said, "out of the royal 
protection and makes us independent in spite of our supplications 
and entreaties." 

The bad feeling created by the Prohibitory Act was intensified 
by the written word. Early in 1776 Thomas Paine's pamphlet 
"Common Sense" was published and scattered broadcast over the 
land. The pamphlet was a passionate appeal for separation. "It 
is repugnant to reason," said Paine, "to the universal order of 
things, to suppose that this continent can longer remain subject to 
any external power. The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot 
at this time compass a plan short of separation. Reconciliation is 
now a fallacious dream. For, as Milton wisely expresses, 'never 
can true reconciliation grow, where wounds of deadly hate have 
pierced so deep.' Everything that is right or reasonable pleads 
for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature 
cries, ' 'T is time to part. ' Even the distance at which the Almighty 
hath placed England and America is a strong and natural proof 
that the authority of the one over the other was never the design of 
Heaven. I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resent- 
ment to espouse the doctrine of independence. I am clearly, posi- 
tively, and conscientiously persuaded that it is the true interest of 
this continent to be so; that everything short of that is mere 
patchwork. ' ' 

About the time the telling logic and fervid language of Paine's 
remarkable tractate began to act as a ferment, measures for sepa- 
ration were assuming definite form. In the movement for inde- 
pendence southern colonies led the way. In February, 1776, a 
revolutionary group in Georgia instructed delegates to agree to 
any measure for the general good which might be adopted by 
Congress. In March South Carolina took similar action. In April 
the provincial congress of North Carolina instructed its delegates 
to concur with representatives from other colonies in declaring 
independence. In May Virginia instructed her delegates in Con- 
gress to propose independence. Accordingly, on June 7 Richard 



BLOWS AND SEPARATION 



73 



Henry Lee moved in Congress "That these United Colonies are, ™ AP - 
and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they 
are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all 
political connection between them and the State of Great Britain 
is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." The debate on the reso- 




€^72-. 









tl H/n&ot*i 



Signatures of Some of the Men who Signed the Declaration of 
Independence 

lution revealed the fact that New England was entirely ready for 
separation, but that the middle colonies were lukewarm. Action 
upon Lee's resolution was postponed for twenty days in order that 
public opinion might have time to crystallize in favor of inde- 
pendence. On July 1 Lee's motion was brought up again in 
Congress and was carried by the votes of nine colonies. In this 



74 THE REVOLUTION 

c^iap. vo t e New York and Pennsylvania were against independence, 

Delaware was divided, and South Carolina wanted time for further 

consideration. This was granted, and when the question was put to 
a vote the next day all the colonies voted for independence except 
New York, which withheld its consent until July 9. Having re- 
solved upon independence, Congress on July 4 agreed to the draft 
of a declaration submitted by Thomas Jefferson. Copies of the 
declaration were sent to the assemblies of the several colonies, to 
various conventions and committees of safety, and to all the officers 
of the Continental armies. The wild rejoicings with which it was 
everywhere received proved beyond doubt that Congress had made 
no mistake. "The people," said Samuel Adams, "seemed to 
recognize the resolution as though it was a decree promulgated from 
heaven." 

The text of the declaration follows : 

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

In Congress, July 4, 1776. 

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of 

America. 

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one 
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them 
with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the 
separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of 
nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of man- 
kind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them 
to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men are created 
equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain in- 
alienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit 
of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are insti- 
tuted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of 
the governed ; that, whenever any form of government becomes 
destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or 
abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation 
on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to 
them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. 
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established, 
should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accord- 



BLOWS AND SEPARATION 75 

ingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed ™ AP ' 

to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by 

abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when 
a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the 
same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute 
despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such gov- 
ernment, and to provide new guards for their future security. 
Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies ; and such is 
now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former 
system of government. The history of the present king of Great 
Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having 
in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these 
States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. 

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and neces- 
sary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and 
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his 
assent shall be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly 
neglected to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large 
districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right 
of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them 
and formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual and 
uncomfortable and distant from the depository of their public 
records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance 
with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, 
with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people. 

He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause 
others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of 
annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exer- 
cise ; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all dangers 
of invasion from without, and convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States ; 
for that purpose obstructing the laws of naturalization of for- 
eigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration 
hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of 
lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his 
assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure 
of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. 



76 THE REVOLUTION 

chap. He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms 

of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us in times of peace, standing armies, with- 
out the consent of our legislatures. 

He has affected to render the military independent of, and 
superior to, the civil power. 

He has combined, with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction 
foreign to our constitutions and acknowledged by our laws, giving 
his assent to their acts of pretended legislation : 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us : 
For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any 
murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these 
States : 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world: 
For imposing taxes on us without our consent : 
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury : 
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended 
offenses : 

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring 
province, establishing therein an arbitrary government and enlarg- 
ing its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit 
instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these 
colonies : 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, 
and altering, fundamentally, the forms of governments : 

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves 
invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his 
protection, and waging war against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, 
and destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mer- 
cenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny 
already begun, with circumstance of cruelty and perfidy scarcely 
paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the 
head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high 
seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners 
of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. 
He has excited domestic insurrections among us, and has en- 
deavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontier, the merciless 
Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished 
destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. 



BLOWS AND SEPARATION 



77 



In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for ^ AP - 

redress in the most humble terms : our petitions have been 

answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is 
thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be 
the ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. 
We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their 
legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We 
have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and 
settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and 
magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our com- 
mon kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably 
interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been 
deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, there- 
fore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, 
and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in 
peace friends. 

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of 
America in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme 
Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the 
name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, 
solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and 
of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are 
absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all 
political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, 
is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that, as free and inde- 
pendent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, 
contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and 
things which independent States may of right do. And for the 
support of this declaration, and with firm reliance on the protec- 
tion of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge each other our lives 
our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 

John Hancock 



New Hampshire 
josiah bartlett 
Wm. Whipple 
Matthew Thornton 

Massachusetts Bay 
Saml. Adams 
John Adams 
Robt. Treat Paine 
Elbridge Gerry 



Rhode Island 
Step. Hopkins 
William Ellery 

Connecticut 
Roger Sherman 
Sam'el Huntington 
Wm. Williams 
Oliver Wolcott 



New York 
Wm. Floyd 
Phil. Livingston 
Frans. Lewis 
Lewis Morris 

Neic Jersey 
Richd. Stockton 
Jno. Witherspoon 
Fras. Hopkinson 
John Hart 
Abra. Clark 



78 



THE REVOLUTION 



CHAP. 


Pennsylvania 


Maryland 




IV 


Robt. Morris 
Benjamin Rush 


Samuel Chase 
Wm. Paca 


North Carolina 




Wm. Hooper 




Ben j a. Franklin 


Tiios. Stone 


Joseph Hewes 




John Morton 


Charles Carroll of 


John Penn 




Geo. Clymer 


Carrollton 






Jas. Smith 




South Carolina 




Geo. Taylor 


Virginia 


Edward Rutledge 




James Wilson 


George Wythe 


Thos. Heyward, Junr. 




Geo. Ross 


Richard Henry Lee 


Thomas Lynch, Junr. 






Tho. Jefferson 


Arthur Middleton 




Delaware 


Benja. Harrison 






Caesar Rodney 


Thos. Nelson, jr. 


Georgia 




Geo. Reed 


Francis Lightfoot Lee 


Button Gwinnett 




Tho. M'Kean 


Carter Braxton 


Lyman Hall 
Geo. Walton 



Resolved, That copies of the Declaration be sent to the several 
assemblies, conventions and committees, or councils of safety, and 
to the several commanding officers of the continental troops ; that it 
be proclaimed in each of the united States, at the head of the army. 



The Struggle and the Victory 



On the day after independence was declared the largest British 
army that had ever been sent to America arrived at New York 
under the command of General Sir William Howe. Reinforce- 
ments under Admiral Lord Howe and other commanders brought 
the total British force up to about 40,000 men. Fighting on the 
side of the English were 17,000 mercenary troops, chiefly Hessians. 
It was the plan of the British to secure possession of the Hudson 
River region and thus cut off New England from the other colonies. 
Howe was to take New York City and gain control of the lower 
Hudson, while General Carleton was to come down from Canada, 
recapture Ticonderoga, and establish his power in the upper 
Hudson region. The two armies were finally to meet at Albany. 

When Howe arrived at Staten Island he found Washington 
already on the ground with about 18,000 men, half of whom, under 
General Israel Putnam, were holding Brooklyn Heights, a line of 
hills which commanded New York. Howe advanced upon the 
heights and, meeting the Americans in the engagement known as 
the Battle of Long Island, easily defeated them, for the British 
troops outnumbered the American four to one. Washington, who 
now faced the danger of losing every man on Long Island, under 



THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY 



79 



the cover of a foggy night took his army across a mile of water to jp^ AP - 

the New York side and thus saved about 9000 men from the clutches 

of the British. Then for several months the two armies strove for 
the possession of New York City. By the middle of November Fort 
Washington with nearly 3000 prisoners had been captured by the 
British, and the lower Hudson for a distance of forty miles above 




Washington's Movements in 1776 



New York was safely in their hands, where it remained until the 
war was over. 

After the loss of Fort Washington, the American commander in 
order to avert disaster beat a retreat across New Jersey, the British 
army closely pursuing the Americans, but never quite overtaking 
them. If Howe's heart had been in his task his movements might 
have been swifter. But he did not seem to be set upon victory. 
"He was a member of Parliament for Nottingham, and had publicly 
condemned the quarrel with America and told his electors he 



The 

Slowness 
of the 
British 



80 THE REVOLUTION 

chap. would take no command. He had not kept his word but his con- 
victions remained. . . . He had no belief that his country was 
right in the war. ' ' 1 The slowness of Howe 's movements may also 
be explained by the hesitancy of the British Government to deliver 
a crushing blow to the Americans. At the beginning of the struggle 
it was the idea of leading Englishmen that the war ought not to 
be pressed to a bitter conclusion, but ought to be so conducted as to 
secure victory for the English without causing the Americans to 
suffer an overwhelming defeat. The war was being fought to save 
the colonies for England, but it would be impossible to prevent the 
loss of their loyalty if they should be subjected to all the horrors 
of a ruthless warfare. Accordingly, in the game of hare and 
hounds across New Jersey, Howe, from one motive or from another, 
did not seem to move as fast as he could. It was said of him that 
he calculated with the greatest nicety the exact time necessary for 
the enemy to make his escape. At Newark, as the Americans moved 
from one end of the town, the British marched in at the other. At 
Trenton, as the last boat carrying the Americans crossed the Dela- 
ware, Howe's army arrived — just in time to be too late to interfere 
with the crossing. 

m u . If Howe was loath to strike hard, Washington was equally loath 

Washing- ' . 

ton's to stand his ground and try a pitched battle. From the time he left 

Policy Long Island until he reached Trenton the movement of his army 

was an orderly retreat. This was in keeping with American tactics 
throughout the war, for it was Washington's general policy to 
conduct a defensive campaign. "On our side," he said, "the war 
should be defensive that we should on all occasions avoid a general 
action nor put anything to risk unless compelled by a necessity into 
which we ought never to be drawn. . . . The wisdom of cooler 
moments and experienced men have decided that we should protract 
the war if possible." Reasons for a Fabian policy were numerous 
enough. On the British side were the best regular troops of 
Europe, commanded and led by able generals and supplied from 
the ample resources of a powerful and wealthy nation. The colonial 
army, on the other hand, was an irregular force whose soldiers 
were enlisted only for short periods and, for the greater part of 
the war, were without military training. These raw, inexperienced 

1 George M. Wrong, "Washington and his Comrades in Arms" ; p. 81. 



THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY 81 

troops could not always be relied upon to stand fire. ' ' The militia, ' ' ™ AP - 
said Washington in December, 1776, "come in, consume your pro- 
visions, exhaust your stores, and leave you at last at a critical 
moment. ' ' The rough country over which most of the fighting had 
to be done was favorable to a defensive campaign. Fences, rivers, 
mountainous country, roadless forests, did little to obstruct the 
simply equipped and undisciplined Americans, but they were in- 
surmountable obstacles to a precise British column moving with its 
heavy artillery and its train of baggage wagons. In the British 
manual there were no orders for climbing fences, or for sending 
parts of the column around opposite sides of the same boulder. 
' ' The very fact of the British army 's discipline and organization, ' ' 
says R. G. Usher, "became a hindrance the moment they left the 
open fields about the Hudson and Delaware and advanced into the 
wilds of Lake George and the hill country of North Carolina. A 
couple of thousand farmers in their shirt-sleeves and without any 
artillery and baggage would straggle across fields, scaling fences, 
penetrating woods and losing little if anything of their efficiency 
in the process : they had little in fact to lose, for the only method 
of fighting they understood called for men behind trees and stone 
walls, and not arranged in line of battle. ' ' The result of this kind 
of warfare was usually to leave the English in possession of the 
field and to permit them to march where they pleased. In a tech- 
nical military sense, therefore, the story of the Revolution is largely 
a tale of battles lost by the victors. 

But there were memorable instances when the Americans took Trenton and 
the offensive. One of these was at Trenton where Washington 
turned upon his pursuers. On Christmas night, 1776, he recrossed 
the Delaware, and the next morning, with an army so diminished 
as to cause him apprehension and distress, he attacked a force of 
Hessian troops and captured nearly a thousand prisoners. March- 
ing on to Princeton he again met the British and defeated three of 
their regiments. These surprises forced Howe to fall back upon 
New York. "To military students," says General F. V. Greene, 
"no page in history is more worthy of study in every detail than 
these fourteen days in New Jersey. From Christmas, 1776, to 
January 7, 1777, Washington in very truth snatched victory out 
of the jaws of defeat. . . . The astounding but well-deserved re- 



82 



THE REVOLUTION 



CHAP. 
IV 



The 

Fighting 
in the 
Vicinity of 
Philadel- 
phia 



suits of the whole movement at once and forever established Wash- 
ington 's reputation as a soldier. ' ' 

After the battle at Princeton Washington led his troops to 
Morristown, New Jersey, where he spent the rest of the winter. 
In the spring he went out to watch Howe closely, annoy him in 




Washington's Movements in 1777 



every way possible, and prevent him from joining the army that 
was about to march into northern New York from Canada. But 
Howe did not follow the plan which had been mapped out. 
Through some blundering on the part of the authorities in England, 
he had failed to receive definite instructions to march to Albany. 
Had he started it is likely that Washington would have made his 
journey a painful one. In May he left New York and began a 
march across New Jersey, his purpose being to capture Philadel- 
phia, the home of Congress and the capital of the new-born nation. 



THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY 83 

Finding that Washington was standing across his path, he thought ™ AP - 
it prudent to return to New York and go to Philadelphia by water. " 
Embarking his troops on a fleet, he set sail and two weeks later he 
landed his army at the Head of Elk at the northern end of Chesa- 
peake Bay. Washington was near-by to check the advance on Phil- 
adelphia. At Chadds Ford on the Brandywine he gave battle to 
the British but was compelled to leave the field to the enemy. Howe 
now entered the capital with his army. On October 4 the Ameri- 
cans again attacked the British at Germantown and again they 
were worsted, but the British losses were so heavy that they made 
no serious attempt to follow the retreating army. After hovering 
around Howe for several weeks Washington went into winter 
quarters at Valley Forge, where the suffering of his men from cold 
and hunger was heartrending. 

While Washington was struggling with Howe another great con- Benningt 
test was taking place in northern New York. In the summer of 
1777 General John Burgoyne, who had succeeded Carleton, sailed 
up Lake Champlain and, having driven the Americans from 
Ticonderoga, marched on to Fort Edward. While there he heard 
that there was a large quantity of excellent provisions at Benning- 
ton, a little village in Vermont, and he sent a detachment of about 
a thousand men to seize them. But the expedition came to grief. 
Bennington was defended by a band of Green Mountain boys under 
the command of Colonel John Stark, who gave fight to the British 
and drove them back with terrible loss. Scarcely a hundred of 
them were able to make their way back to Burgoyne. When they 
returned they found that things were going hard with the general. 
The Americans were impeding the march of the British in many 
ways, cutting down trees and letting them fall across the roads, 
destroying bridges, stripping the country of cattle and provisions. 
Thus the British were delayed while the Americans were gathering Sarat °sa 
their forces for an attack. Burgoyne expected aid from western 
New York, for it was part of the plan that General St. Leger was 
to lead an army from Oswego down the Mohawk Valley to Albany. 
But St. Leger did not come ; he was checked by the Americans at 
Oriskany. Burgoyne also expected reinforcements to come up 
from New York City ; but, as we have seen, Howe had left him to 
his fate and he had to fight his battles alone. When the time came 
for action he was not prepared. His army was without food, and 



84 



THE REVOLUTION 



CHAP. 
IV 



France 

Comes to 
the Aid of 
America 



the Americans in considerable numbers were closing in on him. 
By the middle of October they had him in a trap, out of which he 
tried to fight his way, but in vain. At Saratoga he surrendered 
his army on October 17, and six thousand British soldiers were 
made prisoners of war. 

The surrender of Burgoyne was easily the most important mili- 
tary event of the Revolution. It shattered completely the British 
plan of campaign, and it renewed the courage of the Americans at 

a time when their cause 
was threatened with failure. 
But the most significant re- 
sult of the surrender was the 
effect it had upon France. 
From the first days of the 
Revolution France "tingled 
with joy at American vic- 
tories and sorrowed at 
American reverses." She 
had herself just been driven 
from America, and sweet in- 
deed would be the satisfac- 
tion if England too should 
be expelled. Through un- 
official agents she had sent 
money and munitions of 
war to the American army, 
but she was reluctant offi- 
cially to recognize the 
United States as an inde- 




OOUN. 



Westfoitat 
.1 



Burgoyne's Invasion of New York and 
Scene of Border Warfare 



pendent nation. Benjamin Franklin, who in European eyes was 
the greatest of all Americans, was sent to Paris to plead the cause 
of his countrymen. As a champion of liberty he was received 
by the French people with an enthusiasm that seemed to know 
no bounds. "Paris," says C. H. Van Tyne, "lost its head over 
him. At entertainments beautiful women vied with each other 
to place on his white head a crown of laurels, and kisses on his 
cheeks. He grew weary of sitting for busts and portraits and 
medals. . . . His very singularity served to keep him in the 
public eye. Amid the lace and the embroidery, the powder and 
the perfume, walked this farmer figure, with brown coat, round 



THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY 85 

hat, and unpowdered hair. He did not ape French manners, but, £^ AP - 
as Jefferson expressed it, he subjected France to American influ- 
ence." In spite of Franklin's powerful intercession the French 
Government remained hesitant and coy until Saratoga. Then it 
took a decided stand, acknowledging the independence of the United 
States and entering into treaty relations with the new nation. On 
February 6, 1778, two treaties were signed at Paris, one of alliance 
and the other of amity and commerce between the United States of 
America and France. Under the terms of the alliance it was 
agreed that in case war should break out between France and Great 
Britain during the continuance of the Revolutionary War the 
United States and France would make common cause, that neither 
would conclude a truce or peace with the enemy without the consent 
of the other, and that hostilities should not cease until the inde- 
pendence of the United States was assured. 

The alliance with France had a tremendous influence upon the England 

r Desires 

course events were to take. When England heard of the treaty her Conciiia- 
indignation was aroused to a high pitch, and within a few months 
she was at war with France. Spain, too, having a grievance against 
Britain on account of the British occupation of Gibraltar, allied 
herself with France and began to supply the American armies with 
money. When the news of Burgoyne's surrender reached London, 
the British Government for a moment was ready to abandon its 
policy of repression and try conciliation. Lord North hurried 
through Parliament bills for repealing the tea duty ; for removing 
apprehension regarding the taxation of the colonies by Parliament ; 
for opening the port of Boston; for restoring to Massachusetts its 
former government ; for pardoning those engaged in rebellion ; for 
assuring the colonies that the question of their representation in 
Parliament would be considered. A royal commission was sent to 
America to negotiate a compromise, the commissioners being vested 
with authority to grant the most liberal terms. "Small or great, 
ceremonial or essential, every point in dispute between the British 
cabinet and the Continental Congress was surrendered, without 
ambiguity and without reserve." The hopes of England that she 
might be able really to govern her colonies had vanished. She did, 
however, still hope that she might be able to hold America by a 
thread of some kind. But there was no thread sufficiently tenuous 
to satisfy the Americans. The time for conciliation had passed. 
When the commissioners reached Philadelphia in June, Congress, 



86 



THE REVOLUTION 



CHAP. 
IV 



Jolm Paul 
Jones 



in terms ' ' curt, conclusive and almost defiant, ' ' refused to negotiate 
with them. 

Immediately after the signing of the treaty of alliance, France 
sent to America a fleet of war vessels. This strengthened the 
Americans where they were weakest, for they had no regular navy. 
Congress, however, had issued letters of marque, which gave cap- 
tains authority to prey upon English vessels. The most famous of 
these privateers was John Paul Jones, who with a squadron of three 
ships harried the coast of England and Scotland. In 1779 Jones's 
flagship, the Bonhomme Richard, fought a desperate battle with 
the British frigate Serapis; the two ships were lashed together and 
the struggle continued until the decks of both vessels ran with 
blood and the ships caught fire. In the end the Serapis surren- 
dered. The victory caused great rejoicing in America and made 
Jones a hero. 

The coming of the French fleet caused the British to withdraw 
from Philadelphia in order to escape a blockade. In June Sir 
Henry Clinton, who had succeeded Howe in command, left the 
capital and started with his troops to New York. On the way he 
encountered hard fighting at Monmouth, New Jersey, where he was 
attacked by Washington and might have been defeated had it not 
been for the strange and perhaps treasonable conduct of the Amer- 
ican General Charles Lee. Washington ordered Lee to charge 
upon the enemy at a place where he could have struck a telling 
blow, but instead of attacking the British the "damned poltroon' 1 
— as Washington in flaming anger called him to his face, — after a 
slight demonstration, ordered a retreat. As a result of this cow- 
ardice, Clinton was able to move on and reach New York. After 
the Battle of Monmouth, Washington moved his army up to White 
Plains on the Hudson, where he remained for nearly three years, 
watching Clinton and keeping him in check. 1 Thus after a cam- 
paign of nearly two years in the North, the British had succeeded in 
little except in capturing and holding the town of New York. 

New England was as good as lost to England on the day that 
Washington drove the British out of Boston harbor. The Middle 
States were as good as lost on the day that Burgoyne laid down his 
arms. After Saratoga the scene of virtually all the fighting was in 

1 In July, 1779, Washington sent General Wayne — Mad Anthony Wayne - 
to capture Stony Point, a fort held at the time by the British. Wayne made a 
daring assault upon the fort and carried it by storm. 



THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY 87 

the South. It had been part of the original plan of the English to {^ AP - 
strike the first blows in the South, conquer that section, and then 
conciliate it and detach it from its adherence to the cause of inde- 
pendence. It was thought that conciliation would be easy because 
the social and commercial ties between the South and England 
were really very strong. 1 Accordingly as early as June, 1776, the 
British had attacked Charleston but had been foiled by the deter- 
mined resistance of troops under the command of Colonel William 
Moultrie. After this repulse the British abandoned operations in 
the South until very late in 1778 when they captured Savannah. 
Little was done in 1779, but the next year the war at the South 
was begun in earnest. Early in 1780 Clinton and Cornwallis, with 
8000 men, laid siege to Charleston and compelled it to surrender. 
All Georgia and South Carolina were now in the control of the 
British. The conquerors, however, did not lie on a bed of roses, 
for in South Carolina Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter, leaders 
of roving bands of patriots, darted down mountain sides or out of 
dense woods, delivered such blows as could be struck, and then 
disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared. In the summer of 
1780 the Americans under Horatio Gates met a British force under 
Cornwallis at Camden, South Carolina, and suffered one of the Camden 
worst defeats of the war. The southern states were now wholly in 
the hands of the British, and the outlook for the Americans was 
dark indeed. Their only troops south of New Jersey were the 
scattered remains of Gates's army. But bad news was soon followed 
by good news. In October, 1780, the frontiersmen of North Caro- 
lina and Tennessee won a valuable victory over the British at 
King's Mountain. 2 In a short time the British again met defeat £'"-'* . 

° ° Mountain 

1 See p. 50. 

2 The Revolution spread to the western frontier, where the Indians generally 
took the side of the English. In the summer of 1778 the valley of Wyoming 
in Pennsylvania was swept by a company of Indians and Tories, who left 
behind them an awful scene of murder and devastation. Cherry Valley in 
central New York suffered at the hands of these marauders in much the same 
way. General Sullivan was sent against the Tories and their Indian allies, 
and at Newton, on the site of the present city of Elmira, he met them in battle 
and punished them severely. 

The most important event connected with the border warfare of the Revolu- 
tion was the capture of the Illinois country — the later Northwest Territory — 
by General George Rogers Clark. Acting in the name of Virginia, this dash- 
ing officer, with about 150 men, floated down the Ohio to the mouth of the 
Cumberland, where he struck northwest across marshes, captured Kaskaskia 
and Vincennes. and took possession of the whole region north of Ohio. Only 



88 



THE REVOLUTION 



at Cowpens. Nathanael Greene was now in command and was 
displaying fighting qualities of the highest order. Under his skilful 
management nearly all the territory taken from the Americans by 
the British was regained. 

When Cornwallis, who was directing the British campaign, found 
he could make no headway in the Carolinas, he marched into Vir- 
ginia, where there was already a British force under Benedict 
Arnold. 1 General Lafayette had been sent down by Washington 
to meet Cornwallis. It must be kept in mind that the French after 
the treaty of alliance fought side by side with the Americans until 
the war ended, and the service they rendered was invaluable. "It 
is seriously to be doubted," says President Wilson, "whether we 
could have won our freedom without the gallant and timely aid of 
France." Lafayette, on his entrance into Virginia, set out after 
the manner of the Americans to give Cornwallis a chase. "The 
boy" — Lafayette was then but twenty-three years of age — "can't 
escape me," said the English commander. But the boy did escape 
him, and when the chase was ended the army of Cornwallis was 
occupying an unfavorable position at Yorktown, on the peninsula 
formed by the York and James rivers. 

Washington now saw his chance. Abandoning plans he was 
making for attacking New York, he hurried south with his army; 
and by the end of September a force of 1G,000 men, of whom about 
one half were French, was besieging Cornwallis with 7000 men. 
When the southward-moving Americans reached Yorktown a 
French fleet, the most powerful which up to this time had ever 
been fitted out by France, was guarding the entrance to Chesapeake 
Bay. The French and the Americans, outnumbering the British 
more than two to one, closed in on Cornwallis by land, and the 
guns of the French ships made it impossible for him to escape by 
water. As at Saratoga, so at Yorktown, the British had been caught 

Detroit was left in the hands of the British. This conquest gave the United 
States a claim to the Northwest which was of the utmost importance when the 
boundaries was settled at the close of the war. 

1 In September, 1780, Arnold had turned traitor to the American cause. 
After having rendered excellent service at Saratoga, he was put in command 
at Philadelphia. Here he was accused of using his official position for purposes 
of private gain. He was reprimanded by Washington but was forgiven and 
appointed commander of West Point. He repaid Washington's kindness by 
entering into a plot to hand West Point over to the British. The plan failed but 
Arnold managed to escape to the enemy's lines. As the price of his dishonor, 
the traitor received £6,000 in gold and a command in the British army. 



THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY 



89 



in a trap. Cornwallis made a brave resistance, but in vain ; con- 
sideration for his men compelled him to give up his sword. "I 
thought," he said in a report, "it would have been wanton and 



CHAP. 




The Revolutionary War as Fought in the South 

inhuman to sacrifice the lives of this small body of gallant sol- 
diers." On October 19 he surrendered his entire army. 

The surrender of Cornwallis did not end the fighting, for in parts Abfndona 
of the South there was more bloodshed. Nor did the surrender |^ gg i e 
result in the expulsion of the enemy from America. Indeed he was 



90 



THE REVOLUTION 



CHAP. 
IV 



•The Treaty 
of 1783 



never driven out of the country. The British continued to hold 
New York, and not until November, 1783, did the last of their ships 
leave that port. But so far as the issue of the war was concerned 
Yorktown was decisive. The news of the disaster convinced English 
leaders that it was impossible to conquer America at the point of 
the bayonet. George III wanted the war to go on, but he was not 
allowed to have his way. It was no longer for the interest of 
England to continue the struggle. She was carrying on war with 
the French, with the Spaniards, and with the Dutch, as well as 
with the Americans ; her power was threatened in India ; she was 
having trouble with Ireland ; and in all parts of the world she was 
meeting with reverses. 

In February, 1782, Parliament authorized the king to conclude 
a peace with the United States; whereupon negotiations were 
opened with the American peace commissioners, Benjamin Frank- 
lin, John Jay, and John Adams. Congress instructed the commis- 
sioners to be guided by the wishes of France, but they broke away 
from their instructions and dealt directly with England. A pro- 
visional treaty was concluded at Paris in November, 1782. By the 
terms of this treaty, hostilities in America were to cease at once ; the 
British army and fleet were to be withdrawn from the territory of 
the United States ; the independence of the United States was fully 
acknowledged; the boundaries of the new nation were to be the 
southern border of Canada on the north, the Mississippi River on 
the west, and Florida on the south ; Florida was to be given back 
to Spain ; Americans were to have the right to fish on the coast of 
Newfoundland; the Mississippi River was to be open to British as 
well as to American vessels; and Congress was to request the 
several States to desist from persecuting the Loyalists and to give 
them the opportunity to recover the property which had been con- 
fiscated from them. The provisional treaty was signed by the 
contracting parties on September 3, 1783, and was thus made 
definitive. It was ratified by the American Congress on January 
14, 1784. The treaty was received by the Americans with great 
enthusiasm. They had good reason to rejoice, for the commissioners 
by tact and firmness had secured terms which were entirely favor- 
able to the United States. 



NOTES AND CHRONOLOGY 91 



NOTES AND CHRONOLOGY 

[This matter is indexed. It does not include dates given or subjects treated 
in the main body of the text.] 

1760 George III crowned. 

1762 Great Britain at war with Spain ; Havana captured. 

1764 St. Louis was settled by the French. 

1766 William Pitt becomes prime minister. (He retired in 1768, when 

Grafton became prime minister.) 

1767 Spinning-jenny invented by Hargreaves in England. 
John Quincy Adams born in Braintree, Massachusetts. 

1768 General Gage made commander-in-chief of the British troops in America, 

and ordered to station a military force in Boston. 
Colonial secretary of state becomes the head of colonial affairs in the 
British Government. 

1769 James Watt obtains the first patent for his steam engine, and Richard 

Arkwright receives a patent for his spinning-frame. 

1770 Lord North becomes prime minister. 

Clash on January 17 at New York between the "Sons of Liberty" and 
British soldiers marks the first outburst of the American Revolu- 
tion. 

1772 A British ship, the Gaspee, having run aground, is boarded by a party 

from Providence and destroyed. 

1773 William Henry Harrison born in Berkeley, Virginia. 

1774 The brig Peggry Stewart, laden with tea, publicly burned at Annapolis. 
Boston Port Bill passed by Parliament. 

Lord Dunmore wages a successful war — Dunmore's War — against the 
Indian chief Cornstalk. 

1775 Lord North's "conciliatory measures" rejected by the colonies. 
'Patriots of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, draw up a declara- 
tion renouncing their allegiance to the king and Parliament, May 20. 

Settlement of Kentucky by Daniel Boone and others. 
Kosciuszko appointed colonel in the Revolutionary army. 

1776 Colonel Moultrie repulses the British at Charleston, June 28. 

John Barry, one of the bravest of the American sea fighters in the Revo- 
lution and the first captain to carry the American flag to victory 
on the ocean with his ship the Lexington, captures the British sloop 
Edward off the coast of Virginia, April 7. 

Forces of Howe defeated the Americans at White Plains, October 28. 

Delaware organized as a separate colony. 

1777 Ticonderoga captured by Burgoyne. 
British enter Philadelphia, September 26. 

Vermont petitions Congress for recognition as a State, but is refused. 

Henry Clay born. (Died in 1852.) 

"Stars' and Stripes" adopted as national flag, June 14. 

1778 Sandwich Islands discovered by Captain Cook. 
Arrival of French fleet under D'Estaing. 
France declares war against England, July 10. 

1779 Spain declares war against England, June 16. 
Americans and French repulsed at Charleston. 
Paulus Hook captured by Americans. 



92 THE REVOLUTION 

1780 Execution of Major Andre\ October 2. 
England declares war against Holland. 

1781 First American daily newspaper published in Philadelphia. 
Arnold captures and burns New London. 

Battle of Eutaw Springs, September 8 ; Americans under Greene are 

victorious. 
Richmond, Virginia, burned by Arnold. 
Battle of Guilford Court-house, the British being successful. 

Suggested Readings 

Early conditions and causes : Fisher, Vol. I, pp. 1-17. 

The outbreak of the war: Channing, Vol. Ill, pp. 155-181. 

The eve of the Revolution : Becker, Carl, "The Eve of the Revolution." 

The beginnings: Fiske, Vol. I, pp. 1-45. 

The Continental Congress : Fiske, Vol. I, pp. 100-146. 

The Battle of Bunker Hill: Hitchcock, pp. 102-117; Fisher, Vol. I, pp. 333- 

' 343. 
Independence: Fisher, Vol. I, pp. 43G-466 ; Fiske, Vol. I, pp. 147-197. 
Burgoyne's surrender: Fisher, Vol. II, pp. 56-113. 
The French alliance: Fiske, Vol. II, pp. 1-24. 
Benedict Arnold : Fiske, Vol. II, pp. 206-243. 
The peace: Fisher, Vol. II, pp. 524-546. 

War on the frontier and on the ocean : Fiske, Vol. II, pp. 82-162. 
The end of the Revolution : McLaughlin, pp. 3-34. 
Yorktown : Hitchcock, pp. 145-150 ; Fisher, Vol. II, pp. 446-492. 



1 



V 

A SURVEY OF THE NATION IN 1783 
The Land and the People 

THE boundaries of the territory ceded to the United States by ^ agnifi " 
the Treaty of Paris in 1783 included an area of about 850,000 Empire 
square miles. This is less than one fourth of our present territory, 
yet when compared with the leading nations of Europe the United 
States in 1783 was truly a magnificent empire. Its domain was 
parceled out to the thirteen original States. Of these, five — Rhode 
Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland — had 
about the same boundaries they have to-day and the extent of their 
territory was not a matter about which there was serious dispute. 
The boundaries of the other eight States were indefinite and as yet 
unfixed. New Hampshire was claiming what is now the State of 
Vermont, but her claim was contested by both Massachusetts and 
New York. Massachusetts was holding as her territory what is 
now the State of Maine. Virginia was in undisputed possession of 
what is now Kentucky, and was claiming the great stretch of 
country known as the Northwest Territory, a region out of which 
have been carved the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, 
Wisconsin, and a part of Minnesota. But Massachusetts and 
Connecticut were also claiming broad belts of the Northwest Terri- 
tory, while New York was asserting rights to lands in the Ohio 
country and was running counter to the claims of Virginia as well 
as to those of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The boundaries of 
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia extended to the 
Mississippi River. 

This territorial domain was indeed vast, but the population of tionof P th e a 
the new nation was small. Massachusetts alone has more inhabitants 
than could be counted in all the States together in 1783. The 
number of people in the 'United States at that time cannot be 
definitely stated, for no comprehensive or accurate census had been 
taken ; but it is safe to say that the nation began its career with a 
total population of less than three and a half millions. Of this 

93 



New Nation 



94 A SURVEY OF THE NATION IN 1783 

chap. number about one third belonged to New England, one third to the 
Middle States — New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Dela- 
ware — and the remaining third to the Southern States. Virginia 
boasted of having 700,000 inhabitants and was the most populous 
of the commonwealths. Massachusetts ranked second and Pennsyl- 
vania third. The States with the fewest people were Georgia and 
Rhode Island. Of course the population was sparse. The most 
thickly inhabited portion was a narrow strip along the seaboard 
extending, with breaks now and then, from New Hampshire to 
Georgia, but even this fringe was in no sense densely populated. 
Passing westward from the seaboard the population became more 
and more sparse and when the Alleghanies were reached the coun- 
try was an unbroken solitude. Across the mountains in far-off 
Kentucky and Tennessee there were straggling communities and 
detached settlements, 1 but the entire population in all the western 
country numbered hardly more than 20,000 persons. 
Raw^f -^ u * wn ^ e the population was small and sparse it was upon the 
Men whole homogeneous. At no other time in our history perhaps were 
the people in all parts of the country more nearly alike than they 
were in 1783. Immigration was as yet so small as to be imper- 
ceptible, and there was no distinct foreign population such as exists 
to-day. An overwhelming majority of the inhabitants belonged to 
the English-speaking race, and in every State the people were 
American to the core. There were, to be sure, many who were of 
non-English origin, but these were thoroughly assimilated and were 
as good Americans as any. "Whence came all these people?" asked 
Crevecceur in 1782. "They are a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, 
French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes. From this promiscuous 
breed that race called Americans has arisen. Here individuals are 
melted into a new race of men. ' ' 
f l9 ?fa% But there was one class which from the nature of its unfortunate 

In 178a 

condition had not been assimilated into the main body of society 
and did not enjoy the rights or perform the duties of American 
citizens — the negro slaves, who numbered about one fifth of the 
population. In 1783 slavery had a legal existence in all the States 
except Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. But slavery as an insti- 
tution was now declining, and it seemed that the day was not far 
away when the holding of human beings in bondage would be held 
unlawful in every State. Nor were the aspects of slavery at this 
?See p. 46. 



THE OCCUPATIONS OF THE PEOPLE 95 

time generally forbidding or revolting. In regard to the conditions £ HAP - 
of slave life a traveler named Isaac Weld made the following 
observation in 1795: "The slaves on the large plantations are in 
general very well provided for and treated with mildness. During 
the three months, nearly, that I was in Virginia, two or three 
instances of ill treatment towards them came under my observa- 
tion. Their quarters, the name whereby their habitations are 
called, are usually situated one or two hundred yards from the 
dwelling-house, which gives the appearance of a village. Adjoining 
their little habitations the slave community have small gardens 
and yards for poultry which are all their own property : they have 
ample time to attend to their own concerns and their gardens are 
generally well stocked and their flocks of poultry numerous. Be- 
sides the poultry they raise for themselves they are allowed liberal 
rations of salted pork and Indian corn. In short, their condition 
is by no means so wretched as might be imagined. They are forced 
to work certain hours in the day, but in return they are clothed, 
dieted, and lodged comfortably, and saved all anxiety about pro- 
vision for their offspring." But this description of slavery, the 
same traveler said, applied mainly to Virginia. In some of the 
other States he found that slaves were treated in a manner that 
could not possibly be defended upon grounds either of humanity or 
justice. 

The Occupations of the People 
Agriculture was the mainstay of the nation. More than nine Tiiiersof 

i <• i • p • the Soil 

tenths of the people were tillers of the soil. But farming was 
carried on under hard and exacting conditions. Outside the more 
thickly settled regions everything was wild and raw. To the eyes 
of the observing Frenchman Volney, who made a journey through 
the United States soon after it became a nation, the whole country 
seemed to be little else than a great forest. "During the long 
journey," he says, "from the mouth of the Delaware through 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky, to the river 
Wabash, thence through the Northwest Territory as far as Detroit, 
thence by way of Lake Erie to Niagara and Albany, I scarce 
traveled three miles together in open and cleared land. Every- 
where I found the roads, or rather paths, bordered and over- 
shadowed with coppices or tall trees. The fields are for the most 
part full of stumps half burnt or stripped of their bark and still 



96 



A SURVEY OF THE NATION IN 1783 



CHAP. 
V 



The State of 
Agriculture 



Commerce 
in 1783 



standing ; while both houses and fields are swallowed up in masses 
of forest and diminish in number and extent the further you ad- 
vance into the woods. ' ' 

The implements used by the farmer were as primitive as they 
were in the days of the Greeks and Romans. The plow, drawn 
usually by oxen, was made chiefly of wood. On ill-shaped mold- 
boards were fastened the blades of old hoes, thin strips of iron, or 
worn-out horseshoes. The beam was a simple straight stick. The 
handles were cut from the branches of a tree. The methods of 
harvesting the crops were as ancient as the methods of tillage. 
Grain for the most part was still cut with the sickle, although the 
scythe and cradle were coming into use. Wheat was still threshed 
from the straw by the flail or tramped out by the feet of oxen or 
horses. Fertilizers were seldom used, for the improvement of the 
soil received but little attention. When a tract of land was so far 
exhausted that it no longer yielded profitable crops it was aban- 
doned for a fresh tract where the soil was virgin. ' ' Agriculture, 
said an observer, "does not consist so much in cultivating land as 
in killing it. ' ' 

Next to agriculture the leading interest of the nation lay in its 
commerce. Opportunities for trading were great. The products 
of the forest and farm, the timber and staves, furs and hides, 
wheat and tobacco and indigo, were in excess of the needs of the 
people at home, and the surplus readily found buyers abroad. 
Before the Revolution the colonists were carrying on a thriving 
trade with almost every country in the world. In 1766 twenty- 
three hundred vessels, sailing from foreign shores entered the ports 
of the thirteen colonies. 

During the Revolution this trade suffered greatly, although 
throughout the period of hostilities American privateers scoured 
the oceans and found exciting and lucrative employment in cap- 
turing English merchantmen and selling them as prizes. But with 
the winning of independence serious commercial troubles arose. 
In colonial times, as we have seen, the trade with the West Indies 
had been of immense value to the Americans. 1 The New Engend- 
ers sent to these islands their fish and lumber, while the middle 
colonies sent beef, poultry, horses, oxen, and sheep. When the 
colonial ties were severed a large portion of this trade was sud- 
denly lost. Even before the Treaty of 1783 had been signed Eng- 

1 See p. 33. 



THE OCCUPATIONS OF THE PEOPLE 97 

land proclaimed that henceforth all trade between the United States chap. 
and the British West Indies should be carried in British-built 
ships owned and navigated by British subjects. The blow dealt by 
England was quickly followed by another dealt by France, for in 
August, 1783, the French Government excluded American vessels 
from the ports of the French West Indies. The immediate effect 
of these prohibitions was to cut off the people of the United States 
from a most profitable source of trade and to cause their commerce 
to languish. 

Manufacturing was also in a deplorable condition. During the ^ng 30 
Revolution industry in some lines was stimulated by the necessities 
of the war, but upon the return of peace the market was flooded 
with British goods. Foreign manufactures became so cheap and 
plentiful that their consumption was almost wanton. As a result 
the newly developed industries quickly went down before the fierce 
assault of foreign competition. The war gave America its political 
independence, but it left the country in a condition of industrial 
dependence. 

This industrial dependence was in part due to the fact that in ™,f ust ,.i al 
the arts and processes of manufacturing America was far behind Revolutlon 
the countries of Europe, where wonderful progress was being made 
in the industrial realm. In England the flying-shuttle of Kay, the 
steam-engine of Watt, and the spinning-machine of Arkwright were 
revolutionizing industry, but this industrial revolution had not 
reached the United States by 1783. England had a monopoly of 
the new machinery which she jealously guarded. Parliament 
prohibited the exportation of machines used in the textile manu- 
factures. Violations of the law were punished by fine and imprison- 
ment. Severe measures were also taken to prevent English artisans 
from emigrating to other countries. Thus industrial progress in 
America was delayed. 

Industry was still in the household stage and was extremely sim- to™g ac * 
pie both in its organization and in its methods. A glimpse at manu- Condltlons 
facturing conditions is given in the following description of the 
town of North Brookfield, Massachusetts: ''There were about a 
thousand people in this town. These were nearly all husbandmen. 
What few mechanics there were, were also farmers. Among these 
half-mechanics and half-farmers were a blacksmith, a nail-maker, 
a gunsmith, wheelwrights, carpenters, coopers, cobblers, broom- 
makers, and tailors. The cobblers had a bench in their kitchen and 



98 



A SURVEY OF THE NATION IN 1783 



CHAP. 

y 



would also go around to the farmers' houses with their kit, and stay 
a week or so, mending and making the family supply of shoes. The 
father or grandfather was still making some of the brooms. The 
wheelwright made ox-cart wheels, axles and tongues, the remainder 
of the cart being made by the farmer. The carpenter had little to 
do, because every thriving man could hew, mortise, and lay shingles. 
The spinning, weaving, and dyeing were still done in the households. 
Every family owned a great and a little wheel as well as a loom. 
Soap was made in every family. ' ' 1 There were shops where special 
trades were carried on, but they were usually small. In a typical 
shop the entire working force consisted of three persons : the master, 
one skilled workman, and an apprentice. On the great estates in 
the South there was a rude kind of industry carried on by slaves. 
A well-equipped plantation, like "Washington's at Mount Vernon, 
for example, had a mill for the making of flour, a forge for making 
nails and other articles of iron, a carpenter 's shop, and a weaving- 
room where the coarse clothing of the slaves was made. The plan- 
tation was thus sometimes a self-supporting community, like an 
English manor in the middle ages. There were no great factories 
in 1783. There was no large body of working-men who could be 
distinctly classed as employees, and there were no trade-unions. 
Almost every artisan was himself a proprietor; he was the owner 
both of the tools with which he worked and of the articles which his 
craft fashioned. Under such conditions there could of course be no 
such thing as a labor problem. 



Means of Communication 

Brfd dS es nd Industry remained simple and primitive largely because there 
could be no highly organized commercial or industrial life in a 
country where the means of communication were so bad as they 
were in the United States in 1783. Such a thing as a system of good 
highways connecting community with community and State with 
State had perhaps never been seriously thought of. The railroad 
had never been dreamed of. A road in most cases was an Indian 
trail too narrow for a wagon but wide enough for travel on horse- 
back. On some of the roads a coach or a light two-wheel vehicle — 
the wonderful one-horse shay — could lumber along, but only with 
great difficulty and much delay. Often travelers were compelled to 
alight and assist in pulling the vehicles out of the mud in which the 
1 Quoted in R. M. Tryon's "Household Manufactures" ; p. 145. 



MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 99 

horses floundered. Sometimes the main highway was so impassable chap. 

that fences had to be pulled down and a new road made through the 

fields. The day of bridge-building had not arrived. No large river 
had yet been spanned. When the traveler came to a stream his 
vehicle was either carried across in a scow or was driven through 
the water. The crossing of streams was nearly always attended by 
discomfort and frequently by danger. Sometimes driver, coach, and 
horses were swept down the stream by a swift-flowing current. 

Under these wretched conditions of travel anything like speed Conditions 

. J ° ^ of Travel 

was, of course, out of the question. A day's journey on the best of 
roads was rarely more than forty miles. On the ordinary road the 
traveler was thankful if he covered twenty-five miles between sun- 
rise and sunset. A trip from Philadelphia to New York required 
almost as much time as is now consumed in going across the con- 
tinent. One traveler tells us how by getting up at four o'clock in 
the morning and traveling till late at night he managed to make 
the journey from New York to Boston in a week. 

Travel by water was almost as unsatisfactory as it was by land. 
Sailing packets, or sloops, plied between the different towns located 
on the banks of navigable waters. But the traveler could not tell 
precisely when his sloop would sail, nor could he calculate the length 
of the voyage, for the time of sailing and the length of the trip 
depended entirely upon the wind and the weather. The vessels 
which ran from Providence to New York would often make the 
journey in three days, but with rough weather and unfavorable 
winds a week would sometimes be required. The voyage from 
Albany to New York by sloop regularly required several days, but 
if the winds were very light two weeks were consumed. Travelers 
on the slow-going packets would sometimes take to a small boat, 
row ashore, refresh themselves with food and drink secured at farm- 
houses, and then by quick rowing overtake their vessel. 

The only passable highway between the East and the Mississippi 
Valley was a road which ran from Philadelphia through western 
Pennsylvania over the Alleghany Mountains to Pittsburgh, which in 
1783 was a village of only two or three hundred inhabitants. From 
Pittsburgh travelers were carried in flatboats down the Ohio to the 
Kentucky settlements 1 or on to the shores of the Mississippi where 
stood the little fur trading village of St. Louis. The Kentucky 
settlements could also be reached by a southerly route, which 

1 See p. 46. 



100 A SURVEY OF THE NATION IN 1783 

chap. carried the traveler through the Cumberland Gap and along Boone 's 

road. But travel by this route was so dangerous that those who 

made the journey were compelled to arm themselves as for a mili- 
tary expedition and advance as if in array for battle. 
The Mails The only means for transmitting intelligence was through a slow 

and irregular system of mail. In 1775 a general postal system had 
been established with Benjamin Franklin at its head, and by 1783 
a letter could be sent from Falmouth in Maine to Savannah in 
Georgia. Philadelphia and New York received mails five days in 
the week. In a few other places there were as many as three mails 
a week, but a town was lucky if it got one mail a week. Letters 
sent to places far removed from the main post-roads, to the moun- 
tainous districts of New England or to the pioneer settlements at 
the West, were longer in reaching their destination than is now 
required to reach a point on the opposite side of the globe. In the 
transmission of mails there was no provision for secrecy or security. 
Letters were opened and read by the carriers in the most shameful 
manner. So far was this practice indulged in that Madison and 
other leading men found it necessary to conduct a part of their 
correspondence in cipher. Post-riders on their long and tedious 
journeys could generally find time enough to read all the missives 
entrusted to their care, for it was seldom that the entire mass of 
letters exceeded the capacity of a single pair of saddle-bags. On an 
average a man did not mail more than one letter in a year. 

The Every-day Life of the People 

pistinc- Society in the new nation presented widely different aspects to a 

Social Rank traveler passing from one group of States to another. In New 
England the people lived in small towns and were engaged in trade 
and in the simple occupations of fishing and ship-building. In the 
large towns, as in Boston, Salem, Portsmouth, and Newport, there 
were a few wealthy citizens, but, as a rule, among New Englanders 
there were no great distinctions in wealth or social rank. Every- 
body was well to do, beggars and paupers being almost unknown. 
Industry and thrift were the watchwords of life. In the Middle 
States there was an aristocratic class whose social rank was based 
largely upon wealth acquired in the commercial world. The center 
of this aristocracy was Philadelphia, the largest and most attractive 
city in the country. In the Southern States class distinctions were 



THE EVERY-DAY LIFE OF THE PEOPLE 101 

clearly marked. At the bottom of the social scale were the negro chap. 
slaves; above these were the poor whites who earned a living by " 
manual labor; at the top of the social ladder were the owners of 
the great plantations. The landed gentry were in a very true sense 
an aristocratic class. They had wealth sufficient for the support of 
elaborate and even splendid establishments. In some cases their 
homes were spacious mansions; on their tables were the most de- 
licious foods and the choicest wines; their coaches were richly 
appointed, and they traveled in stately fashion. They had abundant 
leisure, for their slaves did most of the work. A large part of their 
time was spent on horseback, visiting their neighbors and riding 
over their plantations. But the Southern gentleman did not always 
fritter away his time. Often he surrounded himself with books 
and devoted himself to serious study, preparing for leadership in 
the scenes of public life. 

Men and women were everywhere deeply religious, but religion AReiigioi 

PgodIg 

was no longer the power that it was in the days of Winthrop and 
Calvert and Williams. Puritanism had lost much of its austerity 
and the power of the old New England theocracy was gone. 
Boston had long since become "a cemetery of lost ideals." The 
Puritan preacher, still a man of power in public affars, was not the 
narrow-minded sectary of the early times. ''Compared with Cotton 
or Hooker," says McMaster, "a New England minister of 1784 had 
indeed made vast strides toward toleration. He was a very different 
man from the fanatics who burned Catholics at the stake, who drove 
out the Quakers, who sent Roger Williams to find an asylum among 
the Indians of Rhode Island, and sat in judgment on the witches of 
Salem and Andover. ' ' In nearly every State the affairs of religion 
had been entirely separated from the affairs of government and 
churches were no longer supported at public expense. In the States 
where religious liberty had not been fully achieved there was a l^™ 3 
movement toward the complete separation of church and state, 
which was soon to be crowned with success, thanks largely to Thomas 
Jefferson, who worked with the zeal of a crusader in behalf of the 
doctrine that the rights of conscience should never be submitted to 
the decisions of rulers. "To compel a man," said Jefferson, "to 
furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions 
which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical ; the forcing 
him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, 
is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contribu- 



102 A SURVEY OF THE NATION IN 1783 

chap. tions to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his 
" pattern, and whose power he feels most persuasive to righteous- 
ness." Of all the services rendered by Jefferson to his country none 
was more valuable than the fight which he made for religious free- 
dom. For if our republic is new in an important sense, if it has 
introduced anything really novel among human institutions, that 
new thing is the separation of church and state. 
Educa- In education some progress was being made in all the States, 
jiattirs although illiteracy was everywhere widespread. In the number of 
schools, and perhaps also in the quality of instruction, New Eng- 
land took the lead as it had always done. Here there were man}- 
common schools, at which children could learn to read, spell, write, 
and cipher. Geography was sometimes taught, but seldom was 
there such a thing as a map or a globe to assist the learner. Besides 
the common schools there were scattered throughout New England 
academies such as Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, and 
the Phillips Andover Academy in Massachusetts. Excellent acad- 
emies were also found in the Middle and Southern States. At the 
academy the youth received instruction in Latin, Greek, and math- 
ematics, the curriculum handed down from medieval times. Out- 
side of New England common schools were few indeed. In New 
York and Pennsylvania it was only in the larger towns that there 
was even a semblance of popular education. In the South, where 
the people lived far apart on great plantations, it was next to 
impossible to maintain schools. Accordingly the Southern planter 
was compelled either to employ a tutor or a governess for his 
children, or to let them grow up in ignorance. In some cases 
several planters joined to employ a teacher. But education at the 
South was always a matter of private expense ; there was no attempt 
to support schools out of the public purse. Education, therefore, 
was for the favored few. Indeed, this was true in a sense through- 
out the nation at large. For in no State, whether in the North or 
in the South, was there anything that could be called a system of 
free schools for all children of school age. Higher education for 
the more fortunate was gaining a foothold in almost every State. 
By 1783 Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, the University of Penn- 
sylvania, Princeton, Columbia (King's), Brown, Rutgers, Dickin- 
son, and Dartmouth had been founded and were giving instruction 
in advanced subjects. But the colleges were for men only; there 
were no institutions for the higher education of women. If a girl 



THE EVERY-DAY LIFE OF THE PEOPLE 103 

went beyond the rudiments she must receive her instruction from a chap. 
private tutor. Nor were there special schools for training in the 
professions and in the mechanical. arts. There were, it is true, in 
the whole country two medical schools, but these were so poorly 
equipped that it was impossible to furnish adequate instruction. 
The medical education of the day consisted, as a rule, of the knowl- 
edge that a doctor's apprentice could glean from books and of the 
experience he gained while in the performance of his duties, ' ' grind- 
ing the powders, riding with the doctor on his rounds, holding the 
basin when the patient was bled, helping to adjust plasters, sewing 
wounds. ' ' 

That indispensable handmaid of education, the printing-press, Newspapers 
was found in every State. In almost every large town there was a Libraries 
newspaper of some kind, but journalism was limited in its influence 
to the place and region in which each paper was published. The 
daily paper was just beginning to take its place as an institution of 
every-day life. The "Advertiser" of Philadelphia, which was 
founded in 1784, was a daily, and so was the "Advertiser" of New 
York, which appeared in 1785. That other handmaid of education, 
the public library, was as yet unknown. In the large towns and 
cities there were here and there libraries under society ownership, 
but these could be used only by a chosen few ; the masses had no 
share in them. 

The chief work of the printer was to publish pamphlets, almanacs, Early 
and newspapers. The number of books he was called upon to print Literature 
was few, for most of the books that were read in America came 
from the pens of English authors and were printed on English 
presses. Conditions in America were not yet favorable to author- 
ship, and nothing that could be called a national literature had 
appeared or was even beginning to appear. Many years passed 
after we became a nation before our forefathers had much leisure 
for the reading or writing of books. They had quite enough to do 
to keep off the Indians, clear the forests, and bring the land under 
cultivation. "The men," says McMaster, "whose writings now 
form our national literature, the men we are accustomed to revere 
as intellectual patriarchs, all whose works have become classics, 
belong without exception to the generation which followed the 
Revolution. . . . Our ancestors were, therefore, in 1784 shut out 
from the only national authors whose writings are by this generation 
thought worthy to be read. They possessed no poets better than 



104 A SURVEY OF THE NATION IN 1783 

Philip Freneau and Timothy Dwight. No novelist, no dramatist, no 
really great historian had yet arisen. Among the living statesmen 
none had produced anything more enduring than a political pam- 
phlet or a squib. ' ' x 

Civilization in its material aspects did not fall far below con- 
temporary European levels, although when measured by the stand- 
ards of to-day the America of 1783 was primitive indeed. Could we 
go back to that day and get a glimpse of the streets, the houses, the 
furniture, the cooking utensils, the machines of industry, and the 
agencies of transportation, things would look so plain and crude 
and strange that we would seem to be living in another world. 
The streets of the towns were little better than the roads in the 
country, unpaved, narrow, full of holes, without lights at night. 
The only factory was a little shop in which some simple machinery 
was operated by hand. Steam had not yet come into use. The 
dwellings would now be regarded as abodes of discomfort. A few 
mansions belonging to the well-to-do had the semblance indeed of 
magnificence, but not even these were supplied with those useful 
inventions that now do so much to make life comfortable and 
agreeable. There was no hot-air furnace or steam-heating apparatus 
to keep the house warm. Coal was never burned. There was an 
open fireplace upon which logs were burned, sending half the 
smoke through the house and half the heat up the chimney. A stove 
was seldom seen. As for a match to start a flame, that was a thing 
as yet unknown. A bath-tub was a rare luxury. Water had to be 
carried from a stream or pumped from a well. In no place had 
there been installed a system of running water. The only light was 
the flame of a lamp, for even the gas-light had not yet come into 
use. There was no sewing-machine to save the fingers of the seam- 
stress and few were the inventions that lightened the burdens of 
the housewife. The uses of electricity were unknown. There was, 
therefore, no telephone to keep the family in touch with the outside 
world. On the table the dishes in most homes were severely plain 
and few in number. But there was plenty to eat, for food was 
abundant and cheap. A big turkey could be bought for a shilling, 
while pigeons sold for a penny a dozen. A writer tells us of a 
dinner he had in Philadelphia when this was on the table : duck, 
ham, chicken, beef, pig, tarts, custard, jelly, floating-island, beer, 

1 J. B. McMaster, "A History of the People of the United States" ; Vol. I, 
p. 78. 



THE EVERY-DAY LIFE OF THE PEOPLE 105 

porter, punch, wines! Yet as heavily laden as this table was, it chap. 

seems to have contained no fruits or vegetables. This is no cause " 

for wonder for few and scarce were the products of the garden and 
orchard. Of cantaloups, tomatoes, rhubarb, sweet corn, cauliflower, 
the egg-plant, head lettuce, and okra, these ancestors of ours had 
never even so much as heard. 

This plain and homely living comported well enough with the a People 
modest means of the people. Opportunities for the accumulation of Meanf 
great wealth were not present. There were no railroad properties 
or mining interests to be manipulated, no monopolization of com- 
modities possible, no banking schemes available for exploitation. 
What a man got he had to acquire by industry and business thrift, 
and the accumulation of a fortune was necessarily a slow process. 
In 1783 there was not in all America a single person who would 
now be regarded as a possessor of great wealth. The richest man 
was probably George Washington, whose fortune was less than half 
a million dollars. According to an estimate made by Professor 
Beard, the total taxable value of all the lands in the United 
States in 1787 was $400,000,000 — a sum which about half measured 
the reputed wealth of John D. Rockefeller in 1921. 

There was enough wealth in 1783, however, to support the pre- The 
tensions of a fashionable class. In New England fashion 's grip was Tbi^ciass 
not very strong. Religion there still had such a firm hold on the 
hearts and minds of the people that they shunned the gaieties of 
fashionable life. The average New Englander "held it as an 
abomination to read a novel, to see a play, to go to a dance, to make 
a jest, to sing a comic song, or to eat a dinner cooked on Sunday." 
The real center of the fashion and luxury of the country was Phila- 
delphia, where the aristocratic class consisted simply of well-to-do 
persons, birth or position having little to do with the assignment of 
rank. Even the Quakers were not averse to fashion and display. 
"Nowhere," says S. G. Fisher, writing of the Philadelphia^, "were 
the women so resplendent in silks, satins, velvets, and brocades, and 
they piled their hair mountain high. It often required hours for 
the public dresser to arrange one of these head-dresses. When he 
was in great demand, just before a ball, the ladies whom he first 
served were obliged to sit up all the previous night and move care- 
fully all day, lest the towering mass should be disturbed." Balls 
and routs and dances were common, theaters were open, and ban- 
quets of the most elaborate character were served. John Adams, 



ments 



106 A SURVEY OF THE NATION IN 1783 

chap. AV ] 10 was accustomed to the plain living and the steady habits of 
New England, stood aghast at the gay life which he saw in Phila- 
delphia, and thought it must be sin. 

Amuse- Only in the large cities, however, were rounds of gaiety and varied 

pleasures possible. The great majority of the people lived under 
conditions so completely rural that amusements were of necessity 
simple in character and few in number. The theater was in some 
States under the ban of the law, and it was not until about 1790 
that plays of merit began to be staged and actors began to receive 
at the hands of the law a treatment better than that which was 
accorded to vagrants. There was dancing almost everywhere, but 
in many places the dancers had to face the stern reprobation of 
public sentiment. Hunting was a sport indulged in by almost 
everybody that could carry a gun. In the thinly settled country it 
was a sport that partook of the nature of a task. For wolves and 
bears and foxes had to be driven from the clearings in order to 
protect the cattle, and wild game had to be secured for the table. 
The farmer and his boys, therefore, when they were luring wild 
turkeys into pens, or catching wolves in traps, or bringing down 
bears with rifles, could enjoy the pleasure of hunting and at the 
same time perform useful labor. In the South much of the leisure 
of the planter was given to horse-racing, which had so far become a 
science that it was regarded as part of a gentleman's education. The 
planter was fond also of the chase which was so common in Virginia 
that a traveler, Chastellux, thought that it was the constant baying 
of foxhounds that prevented the women from becoming good musi- 
cians. In the winter season nothing was enjoyed so much as sleigh- 
ing. "When the snow," says Schouler, "lay crisp on the ground 
the merry jingle of bells was incessant, and the whole country 
bestirred itself; tavern-keepers were kept up all night. The girls 
had prepared bags of hot sand, which their gallants would place 
in the sleigh at their dainty feet. If the party were large and bent 
upon a social frolic, a fiddler was placed on the front seat, who 
played on the way; and then alighting at some inn the company 
sought out the well-lighted parlor, and formed for a reel to his 
music on the well-sanded floor." The Virginians were especially 
fond of out-door sports, and at the fairs which were held at the 
county seats it seemed that Merry England had been transported 
across the Atlantic. At a fair held in Norfolk ' ' a gilt-laced hat was 
placed on the top of a pole well greased and soaped, and as man 



THE EVERY-DAY LIFE OF THE PEOPLE 107 

after man climbed it only to slip down with a rush before lie chap. 

reached the prize, the crowd screamed with delight, until some 

enduring one succeeded. Pigs were turned loose and the whole 
crowd chased them to catch them by their greased tails. Some 
were sewn up in sacks and ran races, tumbling and rolling over 
each other." The day of tennis and golf and of our national 
pastime, baseball, was still far away. 

That other national pastime, politics, was a game that was not Ft 011 ^- 
yet played, although it was one that was presently to be learned. 
Men were not yet organized into political parties, and issues of a 
national character had not assumed a definite form. The affairs of 
government in nearly every State were in the hands of a ruling 
class that held power by virtue of its social or commercial prestige 
and influence rather than by virtue of a victory won in a regular 
party fight at the polls. The people, it is true, had a voice in 
government, but the suffrage was severely restricted. A majority 
of the States placed a direct property qualification on the voters 
and in the other States virtually all who were not taxpayers were 
excluded from the franchise. In some of the States good behavior 
and religious belief also figured among the qualifications. The 
terms for the franchise as laid down by Connecticut were as follows : 
' ' The qualifications for freemen are that they be at least twenty-one 
years of age, possessed of freehold estate to the value of 40s. per 
ann. or £40 personal estate in the general list of estates in that year 
wherein they desire to be admitted Freemen ; or are possessed of 
estate as aforesaid and by law excused from putting it into the list ; 
and being of quiet and peaceable behaviour." The net result of 
the various restrictions on the ballot was an extremely small elec- 
torate. Dr. J. F. Jameson tells us that in Massachusetts about 
16 per cent of the population were entitled to vote under the law 
and that it was only in years when there was great political excite- 
ment that 5 per cent of the population actually voted. Thus 
Americans had hardly yet learned the meaning of democracy. 

But they had learned the meaning of liberty. Having just fe^* 61 * 7 " 
escaped from England's yoke they were enamored of their newly Pe °P le 
acquired freedom and were responding to the impelling power of a 
new affection. Liberty was their theme and their song. "In their 
eyes honor had no allurement, wealth no value and existence itself 
no charms, unless liberty crowned the possession of those blessings. " 
The Fourth of July was celebrated in a way that made it a real 



108 A SURVEY OF THE NATION IN 1783 

chap. influence in the lives of the people. Fervid orators voicing the spirit 

of America spoke as with tongues of fire. "No longer," exclaimed 

a speaker on Independence day in Boston in 1786, "no longer are 

we bound in swaddling clothes and laid at the footstool of a royal 

master, but arrayed in the glorious garb of independence, we are 

seated among the nations of the world. blessed emancipation! 

Ye worthy patriots, ye faithful sons of genuine virtue, salute with 

rapture this returning day! Hail Independence, ye blooming 

daughters with your grateful songs. Let no envious brow disturb 

the gladdening scene; let no wretch wear the sullen gloom of 

sorrow — be every humble tie forgot, each care suppressed amid the 

general joy!" 

Suggested Readings 

The original make-up of the American people : Ross, pp. 3-23. 
At the end of the era : Channing, Vol. Ill, pp. 552-573. 
Commercial and financial conditions : McLaughlin, pp. 35-52. 
The New England minister : McMaster, Vol. I, pp. 31-35. 
Low state of literature : McMaster, Vol. I, 75-82. 
Opposition to the Theater : McMaster, Vol. I, pp. 83-95. 
Schools : McMaster, Vol. I, pp. 21-28. 

The order of the Cincinnati : McMaster, Vol. I, pp. 167-176. 
Postal service in the early days: McMaster, Vol. II, pp. 59-65. 
Writers of the Revolutionary period (1765-88) : Trent, pp. 37-55. 
Industrial conditions (about 1783) : Simons, pp. 100-107. 



American 
State 



VI 

A TIME OF GREAT DANGER 

State Constitutions and State Governments 

LIBERTY-LOVING Americans in 1783 were struggling with g^JS 
the most difficult problem that can engage the attention of a 
free people. This was the problem of self-government. The col- 
onists, realizing that independence would mean self-dependence, 
began to prepare for a new order of things even before they broke 
away from Britain. As soon as one of the old colonial governments 
was overthrown a new State government was organized to take its 
place. This organization was effected through the agency of a 
revolutionary body known as a convention or congress. As the basic 
or fundamental law of each new State there was adopted by the 
convention a written constitution, which was substituted for the 
old colonial charter or grant. Rhode Island and Connecticut, how- 
ever, did not deem it necessary to frame new constitutions; they 
simply changed the word "king" to "people" in their existing 
charters and adopted these as their constitutions. Each State was 
free to establish whatever form of government it desired and it is 
significant that not one chose to set up a monarchy ; in every case 
the convention provided for a representative democracy. "The 
people," said Jefferson, "seem to have laid aside monarchical and 
taken up the republican government with as much ease as would 
have attended their throwing off an old and putting on a new suit 
of clothes. ' ' All the constitutions were adopted in the name of the 
people, although not all were submitted directly to the people for 
their approval. But in every State the constitutional convention 
regarded itself as acting in the name of the people, and in every 
State the new constitution was accepted as declarative of the 
people's will. "We, therefore," reads the Georgia constitution of 
1777, "the representatives of the people, from whom all power 
originates and for whose benefit all government is intended, by 
virtue of the. power delegated to us, do ordain that the following 
rules and regulations be adopted for the future government of this 

109 



110 A TIME OF GREAT DANGER 

y^ AP - State." Every State began its history with the people as the 
masters of government. 

of Rights ^he mos t important feature of a State constitution was the bill 

of rights, which declared the fundamental liberties of the people. 
In this declaration were stated in black and white the privileges 
and immunities which the citizens of the State were to enjoy : the 
right of life, liberty, and property; religious freedom; trial by jury; 
freedom of the press; security of person, houses, papers and pos- 
sessions against unreasonable searches and seizures; due process of 
law; open courts where justice was to be dispensed without sale, 
denial, or delay; habeas corpus; the right of assemblage and of 
petition; the subordination of the military to the civil power; the 
right to alter and reform the government. These rights, the fruit- 
age of many centuries of costly and patriotic endeavor, constituted 
the most precious portion of the great heritage of freedom which 
was handed to America from England. 

gan^l'on ^ ne ^ orms °^ the governments provided by the several constitu- 
tions differed in details, but, broadly speaking, the differences were 
not great. In accordance with the dominant political philosophy 
of the time, in each of the new States three great departments of 
government were established — the legislative, the executive, and the 
judicial. In theory each of these departments was supposed to be 
quite independent of the other two and was to act as a check upon 
another department whenever it presumed to overstep its powers. 
In all the States except Pennsylvania the new legislature consisted 
of two branches, the upper house being called the Senate and the 
lower house — in most States — the House of Representatives. Penn- 
sylvania adopted a law-making body of a single chamber, her action 
in this matter having been due, it is said, to the influence of Frank- 
lin, who likened a bicameral legislature to a wagon with one horse 
hitched in front and another behind, pulling in opposite directions. 
At the head of the executive department in every State was a 
governor — called in some instances the president. The governor 
in some of the States was elected by the legislature; in others by 
the direct vote of the people. Since the governor in colonial times 
had been a most unpopular officer, the new State constitutions 
were careful not to bestow upon him any more power than was 
absolutely necessary. In some of the States he was allowed to hold 
office for only one year, on the ground that a longer term was 
inimical to liberty. "Where annual election ends," said Samuel 



THE CONFEDERATION 111 

Adams, "tyranny begins." In only one State was the governor y^ AP - 

given the power of the veto. In every State there was a system of ■ 

courts, the judges of which were either appointed by the governor 
or chosen by the legislature. In no State were the judges elected 
by the people. Such was the organization of the State which was 
erected upon the colonial foundation. 

What were the powers of the new State which emerged from the The Powers 
wreckage of the colonial establishment? Broadly speaking, they state" 6 
were precisely the same powers which had been exercised by the 
colony. The new State prescribed the legal relations that were to 
exist between husband and wife, parent and child, master and 
servant; it regulated buying and selling, debt and credit, partner- 
ships and contracts, wills and inheritances; it granted charters to 
cities, boroughs, towns, villages, banks, colleges, seminaries, and 
regulated all corporations public and private ; it controlled local 
governments of every kind ; it provided for a system of police pro- 
tection ; it made laws relating to farming, fishing, manufacturing, 
mining, trading, and all other forms of industry; it defined and 
punished crime; it administered justice; it determined the civil 
rights of its citizens; it prescribed the qualifications of voters and 
provided for the holding of elections. Thus the State which came 
into being with the Revolution was possessed of very broad and 
comprehensive powers and was supreme in most of the affairs 
which concern men in their daily life. 

The Confederation 
But the new State was not supreme in everything; it did not The 

•i o • • -n p Movement 

possess all the attributes or a sovereign nation, h or even before for union 
any new State had been organized there was coming into being in 
America a central government the rudiments of which appeared in 
the Continental Congress of 1775. This Congress, as we have seen, 
assumed some of the powers which belong to a sovereign govern- 
ment. As it was a revolutionary body, its only real credentials of 
authority were to be sought in the exigencies of the struggle in which 
the colonies were engaged ; it did the things that were necessary to 
carry the Revolution to success. Of course it was guided by the 
force of public opinion ; it did the things it thought the American 
people wished it to do. 

But the powers of the Continental Congress were of an indefinite 



112 



A TIME OF GREAT DANGER 



CHAP. 
VI 



The 

Western 
Lands 



Govern- 
ment Under 
the Articles 



and transitory nature, and by 1776 our leaders saw that the central 
government ought to have definite powers and a permanent organi- 
zation. Accordingly, even before independence was declared a 
movement was begun to bring the States under a regular permanent 
government, and by March, 1777, the Continental Congress had 
agreed to the Articles of Confederation, which provided for a 
political union to be known as the United States of America. The 
Articles were subject to ratification by the States. 

Several years passed before the Articles were ratified. One chief 
cause of delay was a dispute as to the ownership of the western 
territory. By virtue of the provisions of colonial charters granting 
territory from sea to sea, and for other reasons, seven States claimed 
territory lying west of the Alleghanies, while six States — New 
Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
and Maryland — could make no such claims. But, inasmuch as the 
western territory, if it was to be won at all, would be won by united 
action, the States with no claims were unwilling that the claimant 
States should enjoy all the fruits of victory, and did not care to 
join the proposed Confederation unless satisfactory arrangements 
could be made in regard to the western lands. By May, 1779, how- 
ever, all the States had agreed to the Articles except Maryland, 
which withheld ratification until the States claiming land in the 
western territory should surrender their claims into the hands of 
the Confederation. After long contention Maryland gained her 
point : Virginia, New York, and Massachusetts, the States that had 
been insisting upon their claims, agreed to abandon them. Accord- 
ingly on March 1, 1781, Maryland agreed to the Articles. On the 
following day the old Continental Congress assembled as the Con- 
gress of the Confederation and began to act under the Articles. 

The government established by the Articles was in its essential 
features the same as the one which it supplanted. The only differ- 
ence was that the new central government needed no longer to 
flounder in uncertainty, for its organization and its powers were 
precisely described and defined by a written instrument. The 
governing body of the new nation was a Congress composed of 
delegates from the several States, just as the Continental Congress 
had been composed. A State could send to the Congress not less 
than two delegates nor more than seven. Whatever might be the 
number of the delegates sent, the voting strength of one State in the 
Congress was as great as that of another, for each State had one 



THE CONFEDERATION 113 

vote and no more. The vote of a State was determined bv a chap. 

j VI 

majority of the delegates present. Under this system of voting the ■ 

great State of Virginia, whose population was climbing toward a 
million, had no more power in the Congress than little Rhode Island 
with her handful of inhabitants. Delegates were appointed to the 
Congress in such manner as each State might direct, and they 
received their salaries, not from the central government, but from 
the treasuries of the States which they represented. 

The new Congress, like the old one, sat as a single house, the 
Articles having made no provision for an upper and a lower branch. 
Congress could with the assent of nine States engage in war, make 
treaties, coin money, borrow or appropriate money, or appoint a 
commander-in-chief of the army. Five States, even the five smallest, 
could block legislation of the most vital importance. Amendment 
to the Articles was made -so difficult that it may be said that the 
power to alter or amend was virtually denied, for an amendment 
had to be agreed to first by the Congress and then by the legis- 
latures of all the States. 

The powers of the new government were all vested in the Con- 
gress. There was a president of the Congress elected by the dele- 
gates from their own number, but he possessed no executive power, 
his duties being simply those of a presiding officer. Such executive 
functions as were performed by the government of the Confedera- 
tion were administered by a group of members known as the Com- 
mittee of States, consisting of one delegate from each State. For 
the general execution of its laws there was no distinct executive 
branch, and for the trial of cases arising under its laws there was 
no judicial branch. The laws of the Congress operated not upon 
individual citizens but upon States. If a State chose to disobey a 
law there was no means of enforcing obedience. 

The powers conferred upon Congress by the Articles were for the The Powers 
most part the identical powers which the Continental Congress congress 
had been exercising during the Revolution. Under the Articles 
Congress was given power: (1) to determine questions of peace and 
war; (2) to enter into treaties and alliances; (3) to send and 
receive ambassadors; (4) to make rules governing captures on land 
and water; (5) to decide upon appeal disputes between the States 
concerning boundaries; (6) to determine the value of current coin; 
(7) to manage Indian affairs; (8) to establish and regulate post- 
offices; (9) to appoint naval officers, and army officers of the higher 



114 



A TIME OF GREAT DANGER 



CHAP. 
VI 



A "League 
of Friend- 
ship" 



grades. The States, while vesting these powers in the government 
of the United States, expressly denied the same powers to them- 
selves and pledged themselves to abide by the decisions of Congress 
in all matters which came within the range of its rightful authority. 
Regarded as a form of political union the Confederation was 
hardly anything more than an alliance. By the terms of the Arti- 
cles each State was to retain its sovereignty, freedom, and inde- 
pendence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right which was not 
expressly delegated to the Congress. The Confederation was ex- 
pressly declared to be a league of friendship ''into which the 
States entered for their common defense, the security of their 
liberties, and their mutual and general welfare." But the union 
thus formed was to be permanent. "We do further solemnly 
plight," reads the concluding Article, "and engage the faith (f 
our respective constituents that these Articles shall be inviolably 
observed by the States and that the Union shall be perpetual." 



The Evil Days of the Confederation 



Why the 
Confedera- 
tion Was 
Weak 



The 

Confedera- 
tion and 
Foreign 
Affairs 



But it was impossible for such a union to be perpetual, for the 
Confederation at best was only a makeshift arrangement. As long 
as the war lasted, it is true, the new government met with a meas- 
urable degree of success, but with the coming of peace the Con- 
federation at once started on a downward course. 

The chief cause of the misfortunes which befell it was the inherent 
weakness of the government established by the Articles. The 
Congress was given no real power; it could only advise or recom- 
mend or suggest. "As a body," says McMaster, "Congress was 
absolutely destitute of the fundamental power when stripped of 
which no government, no society, no organization, known among 
men, can long hold together; that power which the African negro 
gives to his chief, which the Indian bestows upon his sachem, and 
which even by thieves and pirates is acknowledged to belong to the 
men who command them — the power of compelling obedience to 
decrees." 

The impotence of the Confederation became apparent as soon as 
Congress undertook to deal with foreign affairs, the most important 
subject which could come before it. Soon after peace was declared 
Congress was called upon to carry out the clause in the Treaty of 
1783 which provided for the treatment to be accorded to the Loy- 



THE EVIL DAYS OF THE CONFEDERATION 115 

alists. According to the treaty, it will be remembered, Congress ™ AP - 

was to request the several States to desist from persecuting the ~ 

Loyalists and to give them the opportunity to recover the property 
which had been taken from them in the days of the Revolution. 
Congress faithfully made the recommendation, urging fair treat- 
ment for the Loyalists, but its recommendations were received with 
contempt. In some of the States the Tories — as the men who had 
remained loyal to Great Britain were still called — were treated 
almost as badly after the signing of the treaty as they had been 
during the war. Frequently they were subjected to mob violence, 
tar and feathers being sometimes used. Often they received Jed- 
wood justice — first the punishment, then the accusation, and last 
of all the evidence. In many cases they were ordered to leave the 
country. And they did leave in great numbers, so bitter was the 
persecution that was directed against them and so ineffectual were 
the efforts made by Congress to protect them. 

When it was found that the Congress was unable to enforce treaty Grave 

^ Interna- 

obligations, foreign powers hesitated to enter into agreements with tionai 
the new nation. The countries that had helped us or had sym- 
pathized with us in the Revolution — France, Sweden, the Nether- 
lands, Prussia — agreed, indeed, to commercial arrangements which 
had the effect at least of extending to us friendly assurances. But 
England pursued a hostile course. We have seen how hard was 
the blow which she dealt our commerce when she excluded American 
vessels from trade with the British West Indies. In 1785 she 
refused outright to make a commercial treaty with the United 
States, on the ground that there would be no means of enforcing a 
compact even if one should be made, for Congress was utterly with- 
out power to regulate commerce. Because our government was 
powerless to fulfil the obligations of its treaties England failed to 
live up to her own obligations. In disregard of the Treaty of 1783 
she retained possession of the frontier forts at Oswego, Erie, and 
Detroit. Spain also took advantage of the weakness of the Con- 
federation. It was that country's deliberate intention to keep the 
Americans in the West away from the Gulf of Mexico. Accordingly 
in 1784 the Spanish Government informed Congress that England 
had no right to grant the Americans free navigation of the Missis- 
sippi 1 and gave warning that any American vessels attempting to 
use the river would be exposed to confiscation. Thus at the very 
1 See p. 90. 



116 



A TIME OF GREAT DANGER 



CHAP. 
VI 



A Penniless 
Govern- 



Congress 
Is Denied 
the Power 
to Tax 



outset the United States was brought face to face with grave inter- 
national problems which could not be dealt with firmly because of 
the weakness of the national government. 

The feebleness of Congress was seen in domestic affairs almost as 
plainly as in matters of foreign concern. In the all-important mat- 
ter of raising revenue to meet the expenses of government Congress 
had no real power. It could, it is true, ask the States for money, but 
it had no means of compelling a State to contribute a penny. It 
could borrow money, and it did borrow in considerable sums, but 
it could not assure its creditors that the money would ever be 
repaid. As a result, by 1783, its credit was exhausted. This was 
to be expected: the government, like an individual, could not hope 
to go on borrowing, unless there was a reasonable prospect of 
repayment. 

The lack of the power to tax soon brought the finances of the 
Confederation to a sorry condition. At the close of the war money 
was needed to pay the troops who had fought the battles of the 
Revolution, to pay the expenses of the Confederation, and to pay 
its debts. But the national treasury was empty. At one time 
Congress did not have enough money to provide its secretary with 
pens, ink, and paper. 

In order to relieve the situation Congress very early asked the 
States to give it power to collect a duty on imports, so that it might 
pay the debt incurred during the war of the Revolution. Most of 
the States were willing to do this; but Rhode Island withheld her 
consent, and that ended the matter, for one State could veto any 
proposed extension of the power of Congress. The reason given by 
Rhode Island for her refusal was that to grant to Congress the 
power to collect money would endanger the liberties of the American 
people. And in many places outside of Rhode Island the same 
reason for opposing the customs tax was given. Indeed, Virginia, 
which at first authorized the tax, afterwards repealed its act, fear- 
ing that its sovereignty as a State would be impaired and that its 
liberties would be jeopardized. Americans had just come through 
a long war which had arisen from opposition to taxation, and they 
were in no humor to invest the Confederation with a taxing power 
which they feared might prove to be a new source of oppression and 
injustice. 

Congress, therefore, had to rely for its revenues upon recommen- 
dations and requests made to the States. Requisitions were made 



THE EVIL DAYS OF THE CONFEDERATION 117 

from time to time, but the responses were unsatisfactory to the last ™ AP - 

degree. Between 1782 and 1786 Congress made calls upon the 

States amounting in the aggregate to more than $6,000,000, of which 
only $1,000,000 was paid. Through this failure of the States to do 
their part the government of the Confederation was of course kept 
in a state of perpetual bankruptcy. Money was always needed, but 
there was never any at hand. 

In 1783 a situation of great danger grew directly out of the ™^ bur 
financial straits of Congress. After Yorktown the main American incident 
army went into camp at Newburg, New York. Here the soldiers 
experienced many hardships due to neglect. They grew restive and 
demanded their pay. "We have borne," they said in a petition 
which they sent to Congress, ' ' all that men can bear — our property 
is expended, our private resources are at an end, and our friends 
are wearied out and disgusted with our incessant applications." 
This petition was followed by an anonymous address which was 
circulated among the troops with the evident purpose of exciting 
their resentment. The address was menacing in its tone and it 
alarmed thoughtful men, who feared that if the soldiers should 
disperse without their pay they would be hostile to Congress and 
their hostility would lead to the complete dissolution of the Con- 
federation. Luckily a mutiny was averted by Washington, who was 
upon the scene and who induced the soldiers to entrust their cause 
to him. He laid their case before Congress, and that body granted 
such relief as it could, but the relief consisted chiefly of promises 
to pay. Toward the end of the year Washington bade the army an 
affectionate adieu, surrendered to Congress his commission as com- 
mander-in-chief, and retired to Mount Vernon. At the same time 
the army was disbanded. ' ' The veterans, ' ' says Avery, ' ' went home 
without a settlement of their accounts or a penny in their pockets. 
In little groups of four or five they trudged along living in great 
part upon farm-house hospitality. At his journey 's end the veteran 
hung his memorial musket over the chimney-piece and turned again 
to the furrows and the cattle; years of suffering behind, years of 
suffering before." * 

The returning soldiers in every section of the country saw all A Bad 
around them evidences of a disordered condition of things, due in Trade 

Regulation 

no small degree to the bad system of trade regulation. Each State 

X E. McKendree Avery, "A History of the United States and its People"; 
Vol. VI, p. 377. 



118 



A TIME OF GREAT DANGER 



CHAP. 
VI 



had its own custom-house and its own tariff and could levy duties 
not only on goods coming from foreign countries but also upon 
goods coming from a sister State. Under this system each State 
regarded only its own interests ; the interests of the nation at large 
were completely ignored. The duty on an article at one port was at 
one rate, at another port at another rate, and at still another port 
the article came in free of duty. When fixing duties a State was 
often influenced by motives of jealousy or retaliation, or by the 
hope of winning trade away from a neighbor. Massachusetts, New 
Hampshire, and Rhode Island by means of very heavy duties 
virtually closed their ports to British trade. Connecticut, there- 







/ajsha. , ^e-^L^?/£ <g^^^pJ x 













Facsimile of a portion of Washington's resignation as Commander 

of the Army 

upon, threw her ports wide open to British shipping and laid duties 
upon imports from Massachusetts. Here was an example of one 
State actually discriminating against a sister and a neighbor in 
favor of a foreign country. The conduct of New York was espe- 
cially reprehensible. This State compelled "every Yankee sloop 
which came down through Hell Gate, and every Jersey market boat 
which was rowed across from Paulus Hook to Cortlandt Street, to 
pay entrance fees and obtain clearances at the custom-house, just 
as was done by ships from London or Hamburg ; not a cart-load of 
Connecticut firewood could be delivered at the back door of a 
country-house in Beekman Street until it should have paid a duty." 
New Jersey was compared to a cask tapped. at both ends because it 
was compelled to pay duties both to New York and Pennsylvania. 



THE EVIL DAYS OF THE CONFEDERATION 119 

Congress several times asked the States for power to regulate com- chap. 

merce in such a way that these shameful exhibitions of local selfish- 

ness would no longer be possible, but the request was denied. State 
jealousy was too strong for such a sacrifice of power. 

Another serious obstacle to trade was the chaotic state of the cu?ren°c ic 
currency, for the monetary situation under the Confederation was 
as much confused as the commercial situation. The power to issue 
money resided in the States as well as in Congress, and each State 
had a currency system of its own. As a result there were so many 
different kinds of money in circulation that it was next to impos- 
sible to tell what a piece of money was worth. "There were 
doubloons," says McLaughlin, "pistoles, gold Johanneses, English 
and French crowns, English guineas, and Spanish dollars. In such 
a state of disorder and depreciation was the currency of the times 
and so much did terms differ from State to State that the dollar 
was worth six shillings in New England and Virginia, eight shillings 
in New York and North Carolina, seven shillings sixpence in Penn~ 
sylvania, five shillings in Georgia, and thirty-two shillings sixpence 
in South Carolina." Congress under its power to regulate the 
value of coins undertook to remedy some of the evils of the crazy- 
quilt currency. In 1785 it adopted a report prepared by Thomas 
Jefferson and Gouverneur Morris providing for a national currency 
based on the decimal system. According to the new system money 
was to be reckoned in dollars and cents, as it is to-day. For many 
years, however, the people clung to the old habit of estimating 
values in terms of the English denominations of pounds, shillings, 
and pence. 

But far worse than the confusion of the currency was its scarcity. ^ .. 
The heavy importation of British goods after the return of peace x of Mone y 
resulted in drawing away so much gold and silver that by 1785 there 
was not left in the United States enough hard money for the 
transaction of ordinary business. In many places the crops of 
farmers rotted in the field, not because there was no market for 
them but because there was no money with which to buy them. If 
the crops were to be disposed of at all the exchange had to be effected 
by the primitive and clumsy methods of barter. If the farmer 
wished clothes for his family he was compelled to go from village to 
village to find a cobbler who would take wheat for shoes or a tailor 
who would exchange clothes for vegetables. Money was everywhere 

> See p. 97. 



120 



A TIME OF GREAT DANGER 



CHAP. 
VI 



The Paper 

Money 

Movement 



The Failure 
of the Paper 
Currency 



sorely needed, but where was it to come from ? Congress could not 
supply it, for although it had the power to coin money it had no 
funds with which to buy bullion. Congress, it is true, could issue 
paper money, but the experience of the country with paper money 
had been disastrous. During the war Congress had issued large 
sums of paper currency and the individual States had also issued 
large sums. Persons refusing to accept the paper currency had 
been officially stigmatized as enemies of their country. Yet it had 
been next to impossible to keep the paper in circulation. "For two 
or three years, ' ' wrote John Witherspoon, ' ' we constantly saw and 
were informed of creditors running away from their debtors, and 
debtors pursuing them in triumph and paying them without 
mercy!" All efforts to keep the issues in circulation at their face 
value failed completely ; the people would not accept them. As a 
result they fell lower and lower in value until at last they became 
absolutely worthless — "not worth a Continental." 

Although the failure of the paper issues was still fresh in the 
public mind there was, nevertheless, in every State a large number 
of people who believed that the evils due to the scarcity of money 
could be remedied by recourse to the printing-press. The friends 
of paper money were usually small tradesmen, farmers, and, of 
course, debtors, its enemies being the great merchants, the moneyed 
classes, and, of course, creditors. In 1785 and 1786 the clamors of 
the paper-money party became so loud and insistent that law- 
makers were compelled to listen. In some of the States the legis- 
latures yielded to the popular demand and authorized issues of 
paper. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, and 
Delaware refused to try anew the paper experiment ; yet in each 
of these States the paper-money party had many adherents. In 
New Hampshire the building in which the legislature held its ses- 
sions was surrounded by a mob of several hundred persons demand- 
ing paper money; but the legislature was firm and the mob was 
thwarted in its purpose. 

In the States in which issues of paper money were authorized 
expedients of all sorts were resorted to in order to make the experi- 
ment a success. In North Carolina the State government made 
large purchases of tobacco, paying for it in paper currency, but 
giving twice as much for each pound as the planter could obtain in 
specie. In Rhode Island the legislature passed what was called a 
"forcing act," which provided that every person who should refuse 



THE EVIL DAYS OF THE CONFEDERATION 121 

to accept the paper money or should in any way discourage its cir- Eja- 
culation was to be fined heavily and lose the rights of citizenship. 

But in spite of cajolery, artificial expedients, and stringent laws, 
the paper money remedy failed. The bills of credit, as the script 
was called, always depreciated in value and in some cases fell to the 
zero-point. Neither Congress nor the State could transmute rags 
into gold and silver. 

During 1785 and 1786 hard times knocked at the door in all parts Maratchu- n 
of the country. In Massachusetts the distress was unusual. Here setts 
taxes were high, money was scarce, and debts were pressing. The 
people called for paper money, but the legislature turned a deaf 
ear to their appeal. Then there was an outburst of popular wrath 
which showed itself in the form of violence and open warfare 
against the government. Daniel Shays, a former captain in the 
Continental army, assembled in 1786 a force of several hundred 
men and for six months defied the authority of the State of Massa- 
chusetts. At Springfield his band of malcontents intimidated the 
militia and forced the court to adjourn. State troops were sent 
against the insurgents, and they were put down. But they were not 
punished : even Shays himself was allowed to go free. 

The effect of " Shays 's Rebellion," as the uprising in Massa- Drifting 
chusetts was called, was to startle thoughtful men in all parts of Inl r a c r h y 
the country. It brought out in clear light the painful truth that 
the country was drifting toward anarchy. "There are," said 
Washington, "combustibles in every State to which a spark might 
set fire. ' ' At the same time the ' ' rebellion ' ' made it plain that there 
was no government with strength sufficient to repress the rising 
tide of violence. An incident of the insurrection showed how small 
was the respect accorded to the Confederation and how insignificant 
was its power. When it was proposed in the legislature of Massa- 
chusetts to call upon Congress for help in putting down the rebels 
the measure was defeated, one of the arguments used to defeat it 
being that it was incompatible with the dignity of Massachusetts to 
allow United States troops to set foot upon her soil ! Another inci- 
dent showed how small was the respect which the government of the 
Confederation had for itself. While the rebellion was in progress 
Congress, seeing that it might be necessary to defend the United 
States arsenal at Springfield, raised a force of soldiers to be used 
for the defense of the arsenal. Yet these soldiers were recruited 
under the pretense that they were to be used in the West against 



122 A TIME OF GREAT DANGER 

yJ IAP - the Indians. So timid was Congress and so little confidence did it 

' have in its own power that it was afraid to let the public know that 

it intended to use force for the protection of its own property 
against violence ! 

Thus public affairs were in a deplorable state. Congress had 
sunk to such a condition of inefficiency and feebleness that it had 
lost the respect not only of foreign nations but of the American 
people as well. In the States lawlessness and violence were wide- 
spread, and at times the very existence of government was threat- 
ened. By 1786, accordingly, it seemed that the Union was on the 
verge of collapse and that the Americans' experiment in self- 
government was about to end in disastrous failure. 

Suggested Readings 

Defects of the Confederation : Farrand, pp. 42-52. 
Problems of organization : McLaughlin, pp. 35-52. 
Paper money : McMaster, Vol. I, pp. 281-294 ; Dewey, pp. 36-44. 
On the verge of anarchy : Gordy, Vol. I, pp. 5G-63. 
Navigation of the Mississippi : McMaster, Vol. I, pp. 371-383. 
Need of power to regulate commerce : Gordy, Vol. I, pp. 37-63. 
Survey of economic interests : Beard, pp. 19-52. 
Economic crisis : Van Metre, pp. 164-187. 



VII 
THE WORK OF THE FATHERS 

Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces 

FAR-SIGHTED men like Washington, Madison, and Hamilton, The 
te ' ' . ' Isolation of 

viewing the approaching downfall of the Confederation with the citizen 

alarm, came forward with measures designed to strengthen the 
power of the central government and bind the States into a closer 
union. But the leaders had before them a difficult task. Powerful 
forces were at work to keep the States apart. For one thing, geo- 
graphical conditions operated strongly as a centrifugal force. 
Long distances and imperfect means of communication made it 
impossible for the people of one State to know much about the lives 
and thoughts of the people of another. In these days of newspapers, 
railroads, telegraphs, and telephones the people of one State are 
constantly brought into close association with those of another, and 
frequently the interests of a man are so extensive that he may be 
said to live not in one State but in several. But it was not thus in 
the days of the Confederation, when men seldom passed beyond the 
boundaries of the States in which they lived. "Of the affairs of 
Georgia," wrote James Madison of Virginia in 1786, "I know as 
little as of those of Kamchatka." Where the isolation of the citizen 
was so complete it was extremely easy for him to fix his attention 
upon the affairs of his own State and to forget the affairs of the 
nation. 

Then, too, the industrial interests of sections operated as a clashing of 
repellent rather than a cohesive force. The North had manu- interests 
facturing interests which it desired to protect and foster. The 
South, on the other hand, having almost no manufactures at all, 
welcomed the importation of foreign goods free of customs duties. 
Since this was so, how could a central government enact a customs 
law which would be equally acceptable to all the ports along the 
Atlantic coast? It was easy enough for a single State to pass a 
satisfactory tariff law, but a national tariff would have to be 
accommodated to the various interests of different sections. The 

123 



124 



THE WORK OF THE FATHERS 



New England States would want one thing, the Middle States some- 
thing else, and the South something which neither of the other two 
sections desired. 

But the thing that was operating most powerfully against union 
was the fact that the people almost everywhere were opposed to a 
central government because they feared its power. They were such 
great lovers of liberty, were so enamored of the rights of individ- 
uals, that they were loath to bestow power upon any government 
whether local, State, or national. Indeed, many of them cherished 
an attitude of mind that was positively hostile to government. 
Thomas Jefferson voiced the sentiments of thousands of extreme 
individualists when he said: "The spirit of resistance to govern- 
ment is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it always to be 
kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so 
than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and 
then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere." 

The decentralizing forces were so numerous and so powerful that 
the faint-hearted feared that a real union would never be effected. 
And there were prophets of evil who were sure that the country 
would never be united. "As to the future grandeur of America," 
said one observer, "and its being a rising empire under one head, 
whether republican or monarchical, it is one of the idlest and most 
visionary notions that ever was conceived by writers of romance. 
The mutual antipathies and clashing interests of the Americans, 
their differences of governments, habitudes, and manners, indicate 
that they will have no center of union and no common interest. 
They never can be united into one compact empire under any 
species of government whatever; a disunited people till the end of 
time, suspicious, and distrustful of each other, they will be divided 
and sub-divided into little commonwealths or principalities, accord- 
ing to natural boundaries, by great bays of the sea, and by vast 
rivers, lakes, and ridges of mountains." 

But our pessimist did not see clear to the bottom, for there were 
centripetal as well as centrifugal forces at work. In the first place, 
race, religion, language, traditions, and a common culture acted as 
cohesive forces. Moreover, powerful economic influences were 
operating to hold the States together and to strengthen national 
ties. The shipping and manufacturing people had almost decided 
that Congress ought to have the power to regulate commerce in 
order that foreign countries might be prevented from discriminating 



CENTRIFUGAL AND CENTRIPETAL FORCES 125 

against American interests. The holders of public securities were vn AP ' 

beginning to wish for a strong national government that could pay 

its debts; and no wonder, for the government under the Articles 
was not even paying the interest on its debt, and its bonds were 
selling at less than one tenth of their face value. The enemies of 
paper money were turning to the idea of a central government that 
would have the power to prohibit paper issues. 

Then there was the broad national domain beyond the mountains, £he 

^ ' Northwest 

the Northwest Territory. This belonged to the United States, and, Territory 
if the States would only hold together, the countless acres of the vast 
heritage would be sold and the money received would pour into the 
treasury of the United States for the common benefit of all the 
people. Moreover, considerable money had been invested in western 
lands by speculators, but the investments had not yet become a 
source of profit, because the Confederation had not been able to 
govern the western country properly or to protect settlers from the 
Indians. The investors in western lands, therefore, saw that it was 
to their advantage to have a strong and more efficient national 
government. 

But the thing that did most to promote the cause of union was the e Resuite 
the impending danger of anarchy. Shays 's Rebellion and kindred ofDlsunion 
acts of lawlessness opened men's eyes and caused them to see the 
evils of disunion in their true light. Men saw that if the Confed- 
eration should reach the stage of complete dissolution and each 
State should become a sovereign and independent power, there 
would be scattered along the Atlantic coast thirteen little republics 
instead of one powerful nation. And what would follow? The 
interests of States would clash, there would be endless bickering 
and strife, and all the social and moral and intellectual advantages 
which flow from union would be lost. Moreover, it might easily 
happen that the* country would become the prey of the foreign 
invader and be swallowed up piece by piece. Disunion, indeed, 
might mean that America would perish utterly. Apprehensions 
like these could operate only in favor of a closer union and a 
stronger central government. 

Such were the forces of union and of disunion which were at ™ e vement 
work when Washington and other statesmen began in earnest their s° t r renRthen . 
efforts to infuse more life and power into the national government. ^rUcUM 
The movement to amend and strengthen the Articles began almost 
immediately after their adoption and continued from time to time 



126 



THE WORK OF THE FATHERS 



CHAP. 
VII 



in the years following, but every attempt of this kind ended in 
failure, because amendment required the consent of every State and 
complete unanimity could in no case be secured. In 1785, however, 
there was taken the first of a series of steps which rapidly led to a 
complete change in the form of the American government. Early 
in that year commissioners from Maryland and Virginia met at 
Washington's home at Mount Vernon to adjust some matters of 
interstate navigation. At this meeting Washington suggested that 
the two States ought to enter into an agreement for the regulation 
of interstate commerce in all particulars. The discussion following 
this suggestion showed that if there was to be any useful regulation 
of commerce between the States all the States must join. Accord- 
ingly, all the States were invited to appoint commissioners to meet 
in convention at Annapolis, in September, 1786, for the purpose 
of "taking into consideration the trade of the United States." 
When the time for the convention arrived only five States were 
represented. As this representation was considered too small for 
the accomplishment of the purpose for which the convention was 
called, the Annapolis meeting adjourned without taking decisive 
action. Before adjourning, however, it recommended that a con- 
vention of all the States be held at Philadelphia in May, 1787, "to 
take into consideration the situation of the United States and to 
devise such further provisions as shall appear necessary to render 
the constitution of the federal government adequate to the exi- 
gencies of the Union. ' ' 

Virginia and New Jersey responded immediately to this recom- 
mendation, and within a few weeks Pennsylvania, North Carolina, 
Delaware, and Georgia had also appointed delegates. Before the 
date fixed for the meeting all the States had agreed to send dele- 
gates to the proposed convention, except New Hampshire and 
Rhode Island. Later New Hampshire appointed delegates, but 
Rhode Island held to her refusal to take part. In the selection of 
delegates to the convention no popular election was held ; the selec- 
tion was made in each case by the State legislature. Congress, 
seeing the drift of affairs, resolved in February, 1787, that it was 
expedient that in May a convention be held at Philadelphia "for 
the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confed- 
eration and to report such alterations as should render the federal 
constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the 



BUILDING A "NEW ROOF" 



127 



preservation of the Union." Surely the forces of centralization ^f l AP - 

were now moving swiftly enough; two years of agitation by the 

friends of strong government had resulted in the calling of a 
national constitutional convention, the first body of its kind that 
the world had ever seen. 

Building a "New Roof" 



The convention met in Philadelphia as provided in the resolution 
of Congress, and on May 25 an organization was effected. The 
meetings were held in the State-house. George Washington, one of 
the delegates from Virginia, was chosen as the presiding officer. 
At the outset two very important rules were agreed upon. First, 
the organization of the convention was to be on the basis of State 
representation : each State was to have one vote, regardless of its 
population; seven States were to constitute a quorum; and a 
majority of States present were to be competent to decide any 
question that might arise. Secondly, in order to protect the dele- 
gates from criticism and encourage freedom of discussion, it was 
decided that "nothing spoken in the House should be printed or 
otherwise published or communicated without leave"; that is, the 
sessions were to be strictly secret. 

The total number of delegates actually in attendance upon the 
convention was fifty -five, the membership of the several State dele- 
gations varying from two, as in the case of New Hampshire, to 
eight, as in the case of Pennsylvania. But since no State could cast 
more than one vote, the size of a delegation was a matter of no great 
importance. In selecting delegates every State took pains to choose 
good men : most of the States sent their very best. The result was 
a body of commanding ability. In the convention were the leaders 
who were at the forefront of American affairs : George Washington, 
Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Rufus 
King, William Paterson, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, Oliver 
Ellsworth, John Dickinson. 

Many of these men had economic interests which had been ad- 
versely affected under the Articles of Confederation and which were 
promoted by the action of the convention. "The members of the 
Philadelphia Convention which drafted the Constitution," says 
Dr. Charles A. Beard, "were, with a few exceptions, immediately, 



The 

Organiza- 
tion of the 
Convention 



The 

Economic 
Interests 
of the 
Members 



128 



THE WORK OF THE FATHERS 



CHAP. 
VII 



A New Gov- 
ernment 
Planned 
For 



directly, and personally interested in, and derived economic ad- 
vantages from the establishment of the new system." 1 In support 
of this statement it is shown that more than twenty of the members, 
including King, the Pinckneys, and Washington, held considerable 
amounts of public securities ; that an equal number, including Car- 
roll, Dickinson, Ellsworth, and Mason, had outstanding loans of 
money at interest; that more than a dozen, including Franklin, 
Gerry, and Hamilton, were interested in the stocks of land com- 
panies. Since the classes of personalty held by these members were 
well cared for by the convention, the conclusion is drawn that the 
Constitution was an "economic document." 

Whatever importance this conclusion may have for a philosophy 
of history, it is worth while to observe that this "economic inter- 
pretation," with all its microscopic researches into the pecuniary 
affairs of the members of the convention, has resulted in bringing 
no discredit upon the personnel of that illustrious body. Not even 
by implication has it been intimated that there was in the convention 
a single man who was guilty of any kind of peculation or was 
capable of placing his private interest above what he believed was 
the nation's good. The men of the convention were not self-seekers 
bent upon the accomplishment of sinister and purely selfish pur- 
poses. They were high-minded patriotic Americans capable of 
conceiving their own interests in terms of the interest of the nation. 

Although the convention was called for the sole purpose of 
revising the Articles of Confederation it was soon seen that mere 
revision would be patchwork that would bring no relief. Accord- 
ingly it was decided that a new constitution was necessary; that 
an entirely new government would have to be organized and en- 
dowed with new powers. In form the structure proposed was to 
be federal ; it was to be sovereign in respect to those matters which 
concerned the whole body of American people, while at the same 
time each separate State was to be sovereign in respect to those 
matters which concerned only itself. As far, therefore, as mere 
form was concerned the proposed government did not differ widely 
from the one established by the Articles. But the method of exer- 
cising the power of the new government was to differ widely indeed 
from the method by which the Confederation exercised its powers. 
Under the Articles the central government could deal only with 

*An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States"; 
p. 324. 



BUILDING A "NEW ROOF" 129 

the States, and over a State it could exert no real power, for it had vn AP ' 
no means of compelling obedience. But the proposed Federal gov- 
ernment was to pass entirely over the head of the State and deal 
with individuals ; it was to reach the citizen directly, make laws for 
him, try him in Federal courts, conscript him for Federal armies, 
and punish him if found guilty of violating Federal laws. In agree- 
ing that the new government should have substantial power and 
should act directly upon individuals the men of the convention 
took a bold step, but it was one that had to be taken if the Union 
was to be preserved. 

What was to be the organization of this Federal government? ™ e aniza . 
As practical statesmen the men of the convention knew that if their tj on ° f the 

x New Gov- 

work was to be successful they must plan for a central government ernment 
that would resemble as nearly as possible the government which the 
people knew most about; that is, the government of the State. 
Accordingly it was decided that the State government should be 
taken as the pattern for the new Federal organization, and that the 
proposed government should have a legislative, an executive, and a 
judicial branch. Furthermore, it was agreed that the legislative 
branch should consist of an upper and a lower chamber, to be 
known as the Senate and the House of Representatives. This deci- 
sion was easily reached, for Americans were attached to the 
bicameral plan. An anecdote related of Washington has been used 
to show the advantage of a legislature of more than one branch: 
Jefferson once, while taking breakfast with Washington, was pro- 
testing against the establishment of two houses on the ground that 
the system was clumsy and mischievous. Washington defended the 
American plan. "You yourself," he said, "have proved the excel- 
lence of two houses this very moment." "I?" said Jefferson. 
' ' How is that, General ? " " Why did you pour that coffee into your 
saucer?" asked Washington. "To cool it," replied Jefferson. 
"Even so," said Washington, "we pour legislation into the Sena- 
torial saucer to cool it." 

How were the States to be represented in the new Congress? £ a £ ional 
Should they be represented as they had been under the confedera- p"^ e * al e 
tion — one State, one vote? Should they be represented according Principle 
to wealth? Or according to population? Some of the members 
wanted representation in the legislature to be based upon wealth, 
but the advocates of plutocracy were put to rout by the democratic 
forces of the. convention. "Is a man," said one of the members 



130 



THE WORK OF THE FATHERS 



CHAP. 
VII 



The 

Compro- 
mise 



The Basis 
of Repre- 
sentation in 
the Lower 
Branch 



speaking against a property qualification, ''with four thousand 
pounds to have forty times as many votes as a man with a hundred 
pounds?" Several large States led by Virginia wanted representa- 
tion according to population, while several small States led by 
New Jersey contended that the rule in the case of the new Congress 
ought to be the same as it was under the Confederation; that is, 
one State, one vote. Here was a struggle between what may be 
called the national principle and the Federal principle. Virginia 
and her followers were virtually insisting that the United States 
ivas one homogeneous political society consisting of thirteen sections 
or geographical districts called States, and that each of these States 
should have a weight in the Federal Congress proportioned to its 
population. If the plan proposed by these large States had been 
adopted there would have been, properly speaking, no Federal 
government at all, but a strictly national government, a centralized, 
unitary State. New Jersey and her followers, on the other hand, 
were insisting that the United States were thirteen different politi- 
cal societies, each the judge of its own political competency, each 
an equal of the other, and that this equality should be recognized 
by giving each State the same weight in the legislature. If the 
small State plan had prevailed we should have had a strictly 
federal government, it is true, but not one that would have been 
compelled to respond to the national will. 

The debate upon the Virginia and the New Jersey plans continued 
without prospect of agreement, and once it seemed that the question 
of representation would split the convention wide open. In good 
time, however, a compromise plan was brought forward. It was 
proposed that each State, regardless of its population, be repre- 
sented in the Senate by two Senators, and in the House of Repre- 
sentatives by a number of members proportioned to its population. 
This compromise was supported by the aged Franklin. "When a 
broad table is to be made," he said in his homely wisdom, "and the 
edges of the planks do not fit, the artist takes a little from both and 
makes a good joint." The compromise plan was agreed to: the new 
Congress was to be federal in the Senate and national in the House 
of Representatives. 

When it was proposed to give to each State a number of Repre- 
sentatives proportional to its population the question of enumera- 
tion arose. Should every human being, whether black or white, 
slave or free, count one? The Congress of the Confederation, when 



BUILDING A "NEW ROOF" 131 

apportioning taxes to the several States on a basis of population, 
had adopted the plan of counting three fifths of the slaves. This 
ratio was adopted by the convention for the apportionment of 
Representatives; it was agreed that five slaves were to be counted 
as three persons. The number of Representatives that each State 
was to have until a census could be taken was fixed by the Consti- 
tution as follows: New Hampshire, three; Massachusetts, eight; 
Rhode Island, one ; Connecticut, five ; New York, six ; New Jersey, 
four ; Pennsylvania, eight ; Delaware, one ; Maryland, six ; Virginia, 
ten; North Carolina, five; South Carolina, five; Georgia, three. It 
will be observed that although Rhode Island was not represented in 
the convention it was assumed by the f ramers that she would remain 
within the pale of the Union. 



CHAP. 

VII 



The 



While the organization of the legislative branch was being de- Executive 



bated the convention was also considering plans. for an executive 
branch. A fatal weakness of the Union under the Articles of 
Confederation was the absence of an executive to enforce the laws. 
The convention soon decided to remedy this defect by establishing 
a strong executive department and vesting its powers in a single 
person to be styled the President of the United States. How was 
this officer to be elected ? This question gave rise to a vast amount 
of discussion and plans of many sorts were proposed. Election by 
a popular vote was recommended, but was rejected as being too 
democratic. It was not believed that the people had sufficient 
intelligence to vote for a President. "To refer the choice," said 
George Mason, a member of the convention, "of a proper character 
for a chief magistrate to the people would be as unnatural as to 
refer a trial of colors to a blind man. ' ' Some wanted the President 
to be elected by Congress, but it was objected that this would keep 
the executive in a state of dependence upon the legislature, and it 
was highly important that these two brandies should always be 
independent of each other. Another plan was that of indirect elec- 
tion ; that the President be chosen by State colleges of electors, the 
electoral college of each State to have a number of electors equal 
to the combined number of Senators and Representatives to which 
the State should be entitled. In the end the plan of electoral col- 
leges was adopted, not because it was entirely acceptable to the 
members, but because the convention did not wish to be further 
vexed by a fruitless and interminable debate. 



Branch 



132 



THE WORK OF THE FATHERS 



CHAP. 
VII 



The 

Judicial 

Branch 



The Powers 
of the New 
Govern- 
ment 



Two Powers 
of Trans- 
cendent 
Importance 



The machinery of the new government was completed by estab- 
lishing a Federal judiciary which was to be vested with the judicial 
power of the United States. There was need for a Federal judi- 
ciary, for under the Articles of Confederation the judicial power of 
the central government was a mere shadow. At the head of the 
judicial department there was to be a Supreme Court, and below 
this there were to be such inferior courts as Congress might from 
time to time establish. The appointment of the Federal judges was 
given to the President, but it was provided that they should hold 
their office during good behavior, that they should not be removed 
except by the process of impeachment, and that the salary of a 
Federal judge should not be decreased, although it might be in- 
creased if Congress so desired. 

Such was the organization of the proposed government. What 
were its powers? The Convention gave the Federal Government 
absolute control in the following matters : war, peace, treaties, 
alliances, ambassadors, postal affairs, the army and navy, foreign 
commerce, interstate commerce, naturalization, coinage of money, 
Indian affairs, bankruptcy, patents, copyrights, Territories, letters 
of marque and reprisal. The new Government was also given im- 
portant concurrent powers — powers belonging to both the State and 
the nation — relating to the following matters : taxation, public debt, 
citizenship, suffrage, elections, militia, treason, eminent domain. 
Certain powers were expressly denied to the Federal Government. 
Congress was forbidden to pass any law prohibiting the foreign 
slave-trade before the year 1808; it was denied the privilege of 
suspending the writ of habeas corpus unless the public safety 
should require it ; it could lay no tax on exports ; it could give no- 
preference to the ports of one State over those of another ; it could 
grant no title of nobility nor accept any present of any kind from 
any king or prince. The framers saw that certain limitations upon 
the power of the States would also be wholesome. Accordingly they 
provided that no State should coin money, emit bills of credit, make 
anything but gold or silver coin a tender in payment of debts, or 
pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts. Moreover, no 
State without the consent of Congress, was to lay duties on imports 
or exports or impose tonnage duties. 

When this scheme is closely examined it is found that many of 
the legislative powers proposed for the new government were 
identical with those which were already being exercised by the 



BUILDING A "NEW ROOF" 133 

Congress of the Confederation. 1 But in the scheme there were y" AP - 

two additional powers of transcendent importance. One of these 

related to commerce, the other to taxation. The men of the con- 
vention realized that it was largely owing to unsatisfactory trade 
relations that they had been called together, and they felt that 
they must deal with the subject of commerce with a firm hand. 
They gave to Congress complete power to regulate commerce be- 
tween the States, with foreign nations, and with Indian tribes. 
Within its borders a State could still regulate trade in its own 
way, but goods or passengers on their way from one State to 
another or passing between a State and a foreign country were 
placed under the regulation of the Federal Government. The 
subject of taxation was dealt with in an equally firm manner. 
Recognizing that revenue is the life-blood of government and that 
the ills of the Confederation were due chiefly to a lack of revenue, 
the framers proposed that the Federal Government be given an 
almost unlimited power to tax. They restricted the power in only 
three particulars: (1) duties and excises must be uniform through- 
out the United States; (2) direct and capitation taxes must be 
apportioned among the States according to population; (3) duties 
could not be laid on articles exported from any State. Except only 
as limited by these three provisions, Congress was to be free to 
levy any tax it might see fit for any amount it might desire. 

Within the sphere of its powers the authority of the proposed -supreme 
government was to be complete and undisputed. All lawmakers, Land° ft e 
both State and national, and all executive and judicial officers, 
both of the United States and of the several States, were to be 
bound by oath to support the proposed Constitution : while the 
Constitution itself, the laws of Congress, and all treaties made 
under the authority of the United States were to be the supreme 
law of the land; and judges in every State were to be bound 
thereby, no matter what the State constitution or the State laws 
might be. Here was the most important provision of the new 
scheme of government. "This clause," says A. C. McLaughlin, 
"may be called the central clause of the Constitution, because 
without it the whole system would be unwieldy and impracticable. 
Draw out this particular bolt, and the machinery falls to pieces. 
In these words the Constitution is plainly made not merely a 
declaration, a manifesto, depending for its life and usefulness on 

1 See p. 113. 



134 



THE WORK OF THE FATHERS 



CHAP. 
VII 



Amend- 
ments 



the passing will of statesmen or of people, but a fundamental law, 
enforceable like any other law in courts." 

The framers spared no pains to make their work complete, but 
they knew that the proposed Constitution had defects which time 
would bring to light. Provision, therefore, was made for amend- 
ments. But the framers avoided the rigidity of the Articles under 
which one State could block any proposed amendment, and planned 
for an easier method. They decided that Congress might at any 
time, by a two thirds vote in both houses, propose amendments 
to the Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of 
two thirds of the States, might call a convention for proposing 
amendments. Such amendments should become part of the Con- 
stitution as soon as ratified by three fourths of the States, either 
through their legislatures or through special conventions sum- 
moned for the purpose. 

After four months of severe toil in a scorching summer, the 
labors of the convention were completed. When the Constitution 
was given its final form it was signed by all the delegates present 
except Mason, Randolph, and Gerry, who withheld their signa- 
tures. While the last members were signing it, Franklin, looking 
toward the president's chair at the back of which a rising sun 
happened to be painted, made the picture the text for a prophecy. 
"Painters," he said, "have found it difficult to distinguish in 
their art a rising from a setting sun. I have often in the course 
of this session and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its 
issue, looked at that behind the president without being able to 
tell whether it was rising or setting; but now, at length, I have 
the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun. ' ' 



The Ratification of the Constitution 



Heroic and 
evolution- 
ary Action 



The draft of the Constitution finished by the convention in 
September, 1787, was promptly submitted to the Congress of the 
Confederation which was then holding its sessions in New York. 
In less than a fortnight Congress resolved that the proposed Con- 
stitution "be transmitted to the several legislatures in order to be 
submitted to a convention of delegates chosen in each State by 
the people thereof in conformity to the resolves of the convention." 
This was heroic action, for by helping to carry forward the plans 
for a new Constitution Congress was taking steps to terminate its 



THE RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION 135 

own existence. And it was revolutionary action, for if nine States ^fi AP - 

should ratify the work of the convention, such ratification was to 

be sufficient for the establishment under the Constitution of a 
government for those nine States; whereas, under the Articles of 
Confederation, the Union was to consist of thirteen States and no 
change could be made in its structure without the consent of every 
State. "The scheme," says Edward Channing, "was most revo- 
lutionary, because it proposed that nine of the existing thir- 
teen States agreeing to it should secede from the existing federal 
union, establish a new government for themselves, and 
leave the other States to shift for themselves as well as they 
might. ' ' 

The question of ratifying the Constitution gave rise to a most ^"ntf 18 
spirited contest and one that marked the first division of men into Federalist9 
political parties on a truly national issue. For in every State from 
New Hampshire to Georgia there was a group that supported the 
proposed Constitution and was known as Federalists, and an an- 
tagonistic group known as Anti-Federalists. The Federalists for 
the most part were conservatives. They lived in the towns and 
cities along the seaboard and belonged to the commercial classes. 
What the Federalists wanted was stability of government and a 
strict observance of public obligations. "They were," said John 
Marshall, "the uniform friends of a regular administration of 
justice and a vigorous course of taxation, which could enable the 
State to comply with its engagements. By a natural association 
of ideas they were also, with very few exceptions, in favor of 
enlarging the power of the Federal government." The Anti- 
Federalists for the most part were radicals who cherished extreme 
individualistic notions, cared nothing about the strength of gov- 
ernment, and were not very deeply concerned about its good faith. 
"They were uniformly," to quote Marshall again, "in favor of 
relaxing the administration of justice, of affording facilities for 
the payment of debts, or of suspending their collection, and of 
remitting taxes. The same course of opinion led them to resist 
every attempt to transfer from their own hands into those of 
Congress powers which by others were deemed essential to the 
preservation of the Union." These enemies of the proposed Con- 
stitution were found in every section of the country, but they were 
strongest in the farming districts and in newly settled regions 
remote from the coast. 



136 



THE WORK OF THE FATHERS 



CHAP. 
VII 



Five States 

Ratify 

Promptly 



Massachu- 
setts 



Virginia 



The first victory for the Federalists was won in Delaware where 
the Constitution was ratified in December, 1787, by a convention 
in which the vote for the Constitution was unanimous. The first 
real contest was in Pennsylvania, where party strife between the 
conservatives and radicals was extremely bitter. The Anti- 
Federalists in the Keystone State were probably in the majority, 
but the friends of the Constitution by resorting to sharp practice 
succeeded in calling a convention before their opponents could 
organize their forces. The proceedings of the convention were 
long and stormy, but at last, on December 12, the Constitution 
was ratified by a vote of forty-six to twenty-three. Six days later 
New Jersey ratified, and before the end of January, 1788, Georgia 
and Connecticut had given their consent. 

Five States had now voted to live under the "New Roof," as 
the proposed Constitution was often called. But the assent of 
Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York had not yet been given, 
and if any one of these States should refuse to ratify there was 
little hope for the Constitution. In Massachusetts there was fierce 
opposition to ratification : the chief objection being that the Con- 
stitution did not contain a bill of rights guaranteeing religious 
liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and other funda- 
mental rights of American citizenship. In order to meet these 
objections the Federalists proposed that the Constitution be ratified 
and that the ratification be accompanied with a request for a bill 
of rights in the form of amendments. This plan was suggested 
by Washington, and his advice carried great weight in Massachu- 
setts, as it did in every State. After nearly a month of animated 
and serious discussion the Massachusetts convention, in February, 
decided for ratification, the vote being 187 for and 168 against. 
In April Maryland ratified by a vote of sixty-three to eleven, and 
in May South Carolina fell into line by a vote of 149 for and 
seventy-three against. 

As eight States had now ratified the Constitution, the consent of 
only one more was needed. The contest for the ninth State was 
begun in Virginia. Here the struggle in the convention between 
the Federalists and Anti-Federalists was prolonged and exciting. 
The Anti-Federalists were led by Patrick Henry, who brought all 
the power of his eloquence to bear against ratification. Henry's 
chief objection to the Constitution was that it provided for a con- 
solidated national government. "That this is a consolidated gov- 



THE RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION 137 

ernment is to my mind very striking. States are the character- %ff p - 

istics and the soul of a confederation. If the States be not the 

agents of this compact it must be one great consolidated national 
government of the people of all the States." To this, James 
Madison, who was the leader of the Federalists, replied that the 
new government was neither a mere confederation nor a thor- 
oughly national government. "It stands," he said, "by itself. In 
some respects it is a government of a federal nature, in others it 
is of a consolidated nature." The followers of Madison outnum- 
bered those of Henry, for on June 25 a vote was taken and the 
Constitution was ratified by a vote of eighty-nine to seventy-nine. 
With the ratification there was a request that the new Constitu- 
tion be amended by adding a bill of rights, a request similar to 
the one made by Massachusetts. Four days before the Virginia 
convention took action New Hampshire gave its assent to the 
new government and thus won the distinction of being the ninth 
State to ratify the Constitution. 

There were now States enough and one to spare. But New 
York had not yet sought shelter under the "New Roof." Since 
the Union would have been a thing cut in twain without New 
York, there were those who contended that this State ought 
not to be allowed to remain out — that if it did not come in of its' 
own accord it would have to be dragged in by force. To win the 
vote of New York was not easy. The contest was violent and 
there was some shedding of blood. Alexander Hamilton and John 
Jay led the Federalists. Hamilton, assisted by Jay and Madison, 
contributed to the newspapers a series of essays defending and 
expounding the Constitution. These essays were brought together 
in a volume called "the Federalist," a book which to this day is 
regarded as the best commentary upon the elemental principles 
of the American government that has been written. Largely 
through the efforts of Hamilton New York was at last brought 
under the "New Roof," for in July, 1788, the convention ratified 
the Constitution by the close vote of thirty to twenty-seven. 

All the States had now accepted the Constitution except Rhode tolnstaif 
Island and North Carolina. Rhode Island refused outright to g e v ^ 
ratify ; North Carolina held aloof until certain amendments should ment 
be adopted. But these two States were not allowed to thwart the 
wishes of the other eleven. For as soon as it was certain that a 
sufficient number of States had ratified, preparations were made 



CHAP. 
VII 



138 THE WORK OF THE FATHERS 

for the installation of the new government. In the work of chang- 
ing from the old order of things to the new the Congress of the 
Confederation performed its part in a prompt and faithful manner. 
In September, 1788, it resolved: ''That the first Wednesday in 
January next be the day for appointing electors in the several 
States which shall have ratified the Constitution ; that the first 
Wednesday in February next be the day for the electors to 
assemble in their respective States and vote for a President and 
Vice-President; and that the first Wednesday in March next be 
the time, and the present seat of Congress [New York] be the 
place, for commencing proceedings under the new Constitution." 
Thus the old government of the Confederation announced its own 
demise and prepared the way for its successor. 

Suggested Readings 

Members of the convention : McMaster, Vol. I, pp. 419-423. 

Convention and its members: Farrand, pp. 14-42. 

Economic interests of the members of the convention : Beard, pp. 73-151. 

Process of ratification : Beard, pp. 217-239. 

Great Compromise : Farrand, pp. 91-113. 

Completed Constitution : Farrand, pp. 196-210. 

Law of the land : McLaughlin, pp. 236-252. 



VIII 
SETTING THE NEW GOVERNMENT IN MOTION 

The New President 

IN accordance with the resolution of the old Congress, presi- 
dential electors were chosen in January, 1789. In February 
the electoral colleges expressed their choice for President and 
Vice-President. It was planned that the new Congress should 
meet in New York on March 4 and count the electoral vote, as 
provided by the Constitution, but a lack of interest on the part of 
members, bad roads, and long distances prevented a prompt meet- 
ing. On the day fixed only eight Senators and thirteen Repre- 
sentatives were in the city. By April 6, however, a quorum of 
the newly-elected Congress was present and ready for the trans- Action 
action of business. The electoral vote having been counted it was ration 1 ^" 
found that every elector had cast a vote for George Washington Washl »g ton 
and that John Adams of Massachusetts stood second on the list. 
Washington was thereupon declared to be elected President and 
Adams Vice-President. 

At the time of his election Washington was in retreat on his 
estate at Mount Vernon, cherishing hopes that his remaining days 
would be passed in tranquillity and peace. But these hopes were 
shattered by the action of the electors. When he heard of his 
election to the Presidency he was constrained by a sense of duty 
to accept the high office. He bade farewell to his friends and 
neighbors and started to New York. His journey northward was 
a triumphal march. "In every village the people from the farms 
and workshops crowded the streets to watch his carriage, and the 
ringing of bells and the firing of guns marked his coming and 
going. At Baltimore, a cavalcade of citizens escorted him and 
cannon roared a welcome. At Chester, he mounted a horse, and, 
in the midst of a troop of cavalry, rode into Philadelphia beneath 
triumphal arches." At Trenton young girls walking before him 
strewed flowers in his path and sang songs of praise and gratitude. 
When the President arrived at New York, he found that April 30 

139 



CHAP. 
VIII 



140 SETTING THE NEW GOVERNMENT IN MOTION 

had been fixed as the date for his inauguration. Accordingly on 
that day he headed a long procession of soldiers and citizens which 
marched to the building where the Congress was in session. Stand- 
ing on a balcony in the presence of a throng of people, he took 
the oath of office. Thus the history of the United States under 
the Constitution began. 
An So great was the popularity of the first President that the people 

Estimate of .... 

Washington seemed to lean upon him in implicit, loving reliance ; and their 
confidence was wholly deserved. No other man in America was 
endowed with qualities of statesmanship higher than those pos- 
sessed by Washington. He was tolerant, far-seeing, charitable, 
judicious, patient, firm. Jefferson says of him: "Perhaps the 
strongest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until 
every circumstance, every consideration was maturely weighed ; 
refraining if he saw a doubt, but, when once decided, going through 
with his purpose, whatever obstacle opposed. His integrity was 
most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no 
motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being 
able to bias his decision. He was, in every sense of the word, a wise, 
a just, and a great man. His temper was naturally irritable and 
high-toned; but reflection and resolution had obtained a firm and 
habitual ascendency over it. If, however, it broke its bounds, he 
was most tremendous in his wrath. His heart was not warm in its 
affections; but he calculated every man's value and gave him a 
solid esteem proportional to it. His person was fine, his stature 
exactly what one would wish, his deportment easy, erect, and noble. 
It may be truly said that never did nature and fortune combine 
more perfectly to make a man great and to place him in the same 
constellation with whatever worthies have merited from man an 
everlasting remembrance." 

The New Organization 
Building It was well that such a man was at the head of affairs, for the 

from the 

Foundation work to be done required ability of the highest order. The new 
government had to be built up from the very foundation. The 
general government under the Articles of Confederation had 
nothing which was worthy of being called an organization. Alto- 
gether there were in the old government only fifteen or twenty 
employees who were available for service in the new. There was a 



THE NEW ORGANIZATION 141 

bureau of foreign affairs, which was little else than a letter-writing chap. 

department. There was a treasury board composed of three mem- 

bers, but the treasury itself was empty. There was a war bureau, 
but there were not enough soldiers to form one small regiment. So 
there was truth as well as wit in the remark that at the time of 
Washington's inauguration the Government consisted of himself 
and a roll of parchment. 

The Constitution made it the duty of Congress to provide an £^ aniza ' 
effective organization for the new Government. In order to do 
their work in a thorough manner the lawmakers elevated the 
existing bureaus to the rank of distinct executive departments and 
equipped them for an efficient performance of their constitutional 
functions. Three great executive departments were speedily cre- 
ated. There was a department of foreign affairs, to be known as the 
Department of State; a Department of War; and a Treasury 
Department. At the head of each department was placed an 
officer known as the secretary. Congress was also prompt in 
organizing a new Federal judicial system. In September, 1789, 
it passed the celebrated Judiciary Act, which provided that the 
Supreme Court should consist of a chief justice and five associate 
justices. The same law provided that the inferior tribunals of the 
Federal system should consist of four circuit and thirteen district 
courts. Thus the executive and the judicial branches were supplied 
with the needful organs. 

In making appointments to the newly-created offices, the Presi- 
dent could act without regard to party affiliations; for no sooner 
was the Constitution adopted than the line which separated 
Federalists from Anti-Federalists became blurred and indistinct, 
and it could no longer be said that the two parties had any real 
existence. For secretary of state — as the head of the department 
of foreign affairs was called — Washington selected Thomas Jeffer- 
son, a man as well fitted for the place by character and by experi- 
ence as any that could be found in America. For secretary of the 
treasury — as the head of the department of finance was called — he 
chose Alexander Hamilton, who had been his military secretary 
during the Revolution. Hamilton was only thirty -two years of age, 
yet his great abilities had already won for him a foremost place 
among public men. For his secretary of war the President ap- 
pointed General Henry Knox, who had held a similar office under 
the Confederation. The task of Knox was light, for the army 



142 SETTING THE NEW GOVERNMENT IN MOTION 

f x \\l v which he had to manage numbered less than a thousand men. As 

the law officer of the new government Edmund Randolph of 
Virginia was selected. Randolph's title was attorney-general, but 
he did not rank with the secretaries as the head of a department, 
as the Department of Justice had not yet been established. The 
first chief justice of the Supreme Court was John Jay of New York. 
Within a few months after their appointment these men were at 
their posts and the new Constitution was breathing with life. 
suished 1 ^he P ersonne l °f the first administration w 7 as the most dis- 

Personnci tinguished in our history. In all the succeeding administrations 
there has not been one that could boast of three such illustrious 
names as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander 
Hamilton. Throughout the formative period of our national life 
Jefferson stood second only to Washington in power and influence. 
After the death of Washington the will and words of Jefferson 
were for more than a quarter of a century supreme in American 
affairs, and after he passed away his spirit lived on and millions of 
men continued to regard him as the greatest prophet of democracy 
and expounder of human rights that the world has produced. By 
the side of Jefferson worked Hamilton, a man who in constructive 
ability and in fertility of ideas and expedients was the outstanding 
figure of his time. It was upon Hamilton that Washington relied 
for counsel. "The two men," says J. P. Gordy, "were almost 
perfectly fitted to work together. Each supplemented the defects 
of the other. Washington's mind worked slowly, but his con- 
clusions once reached were remarkable for their soundness. Ham- 
ilton 's mind was marvelously quick, but his judgment was in 
danger of being carried away by the ardor of his temperament 
and the strength of his preconceptions. . . . Upon a temper less 
firm than Washington's, Hamilton's ardor might have exercised 
undue influence ; but upon the self -poised character of Washington 
it spent its force as vainly as the waves of the Mediterranean upon 
the rocks of Gibraltar." 

Revenues and Expenditures 

Even before Washington was inaugurated Congress began to 
consider methods of raising money to carry on the operations of 
the new Government. It was necessary to act promptly, for the 
old Confederation had ended its days in an absolutely penniless 



REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES 143 

condition. Early in April, 1789, James Madison, who had been chap. 

elected a representative from Virginia, came forward with a plan 

for laying a tariff on foreign imports. Upon what principle should 
the new tariff law be framed ? Should the duties be levied simply 
with the view of raising a revenue or should they be fixed with the 
view of protecting home manufactures from competition with for- 
eign goods? Thus at the outset Congress was brought face to face 
with a question which has never ceased to hold an uppermost place 
in American politics. 

Madison found that the interests of the different regions of the The First 

° Tariff 

country were so diverse that it was almost impossible to secure the 
passage of his tariff bill. Manufacturing was recovering from the 
low state in which it had been left by the Revolution, 1 and there 
was in Congress a demand that a stimulus be given to American 
industries by adopting a protective tariff. But here there was 
trouble. Pennsylvania, which had iron and steel industries, wanted 
protective duties on nails and other forms of manufactured iron. 
South Carolina had no iron mills to protect, but she suggested a 
duty on hemp. The New Englanders and the South Carolinians 
were united in opposing the duties on iron that the Pennsylvanians 
asked for, because these duties would increase the cost of ship- 
building in the North and of agricultural instruments in both 
sections. The New Englanders and Pennsylvanians had no desire 
for any duty on hemp, for that would increase the cost of rigging 
for their ships. After a long debate a bill was passed on July 4, 
1789, which in some of its features recognized the protective prin- 
ciple. The law itself bore the subtitle, "An Act for the Encourage- 
ment and Protection of Manufactures." Nevertheless, this first 
revenue law was in the main a revenue rather than a protective 
measure. It laid moderate duties on tea, coffee, molasses, wines, 
spirits, glass, and tin. The average rate of the duties was only 
8 per cent, the lowest scale ever imposed by Congress in a general 
tariff act. 

The first Congress had to deal with expenditures as well as with salaries 
revenues. Salaries had to be fixed and appropriations made. It 
was necessary to fix salaries without delay, for the new officials 
were meeting their personal expenses out of their own pockets, and 
some of the members of Congress confessed that they were well-nigh 
reduced to borrowing from their friends. For members of Congress 

1 See p. 97. 



144 SETTING THE NEW GOVERNMENT IN MOTION 



CHAP. 
VIII 



it was agreed that a per diem of six dollars should be allowed, with 
mileage according to the distances traveled in reaching the seat of 
government. Double pay was granted the speaker of the House. 
The salaries fixed for the other leading officers were as follows: 
for the President, $25,000; for the Vice-President, $5000; for the 
chief justice, $4000 ; for each of the secretaries, $3500. There was 
in some quarters an outcry against these salaries on the ground 
that they were excessively high. As a matter of fact, however, 
they were in nearly every instance insufficient for current living 
expenses. Washington in his inaugural address said that he wished 
no salary, but expressed a desire that his expenses be paid. But 
as the Constitution implied that he must have a salary, Congress 
voted him one. The sum granted was by no means too large, for 
Washington used every cent of the $25,000. The total sum appro- 
priated for salaries and for the expenses of all the departments of 
the new Government for the first year was about $700,000, a sum 
smaller than that allotted in these days to some insignificant bureau. 



Amendments: North Carolina and Rhode Island 



The Federal 
Bill of 
Rights 



It will be remembered that several States, when they ratified the 
Constitution, expressed a desire that it be amended in certain 
particulars. In accordance with pledges that had been made, and 
in compliance with public sentiment, Madison early took up the 
subject of proposing new amendments to the States for ratification. 
Nearly eighty amendments were considered, but only twelve re- 
ceived the requisite two thirds vote of both branches of Congress. 
Of the proposed amendments ten were promptly ratified by a 
sufficient number of States and became a part of the fundamental 
law. The first eight of these amendments bear a strong resemblance 
to the bill of rights of a State constitution. They deny to Congress 
the power of making laws interfering with religious freedom, or 
abridging the freedom of the press or the right of petition; and 
they guarantee the citizen against arbitrary arrest and against 
unreasonable search or seizure ; they assert in positive terms the 
right of trial by jury ; they forbid excessive bail, excessive fines, and 
excessive imprisonment. The ninth and tenth amendments are 
declarative of the reserved powers of the people and of the States 
in all matters which lie outside of the enumerated powers granted 
to the Federal Government by the Constitution. "Amendments 




From the painting by John Trumbull 



<^<utfa^i3JZ?^artuAX<frJ 



HAMILTON'S FINANCIAL MEASURES 145 

like these," says Schouler, "were worth accepting. Many of them y{ji ? - 

had already been incorporated into the fundamental instruments 

of the several States. They rendered the Constitution its own 
expounder. Nor were the rights themselves so sacred in the eye of 
sovereign authority that our good citizens did not remember what 
it was to be despoiled of them. It would now be clearer that 
powers were withheld which the people never meant to grant. A 
good maxim inscribed above the judgment-seat may prevent many 
a bloody crime." x 

Now that the Constitution had a bill of rights, North Carolina. North 

° ' ' Carolina ; 

which had postponed ratification of the Constitution until the f^l 
adoption of the restrictive articles should be secured, was ready to 
enter the Union. Accordingly in November, 1789, she became a 
member of the young federal republic. Rhode Island also was 
gratified by the adoption of the ten amendments, but for a while 
she still held aloof. It was impossible, however, that the little 
community should permanently remain foreign territory. In the 
spring of 1790 Congress was threatening to pass a bill cutting 
Rhode Island off from the privileges of trade, and the threat caused 
her to realize the true nature of her situation. Accordingly, in 
May, 1790, Rhode Island ratified the Constitution. ' ' Thus all the 
original thirteen that had fought side by side in the great struggle 
for independence were at length brought safely under the protec- 
tion of the great federal state, which had sprung up out of the 
blood which their sons had shed. ' ' 

Hamilton's Financial Measures 

Promptly after taking his place as secretary of the treasury ^?™j| t ? n ' i 
Hamilton came forward with plans for meeting the public debt and Policy 
restoring the lost credit of the United States. The main purposes 
of his policy were stated as follows: "To justify and preserve the 
confidence of the most enlightened friends of good government; to 
promote the increasing respectability of the American name; to 
answer the calls of justice ; to restore landed property to its true 
value ; to furnish new resources both to agriculture and commerce ; 
to cement more closely the union of the States; to add to their 
security against foreign attacks; to establish public order on the 
basis of an upright and liberal policy: these are the great and 

1 James Schouler, "History of the United States" ; Vol. I, p. 114. 



146 SETTING THE NEW GOVERNMENT IN MOTION 

™ AP - invaluable ends to be secured by a proper and adequate provision 
at the present period for the support of the public credit. " There 
was a foreign debt of $12,000,000, a domestic debt of $42,000,000, 
and a war debt contracted by the several States of $21,000,000. 
This total debt of $75,000,000 to the minds of most people was 
formidable indeed, but it had no terrors for Hamilton, who re- 
garded a national debt as "a national blessing, a powerful cement 
for union, a necessity for keeping up taxation, and a spur to 
industry." He proposed to pay the foreign and domestic debt in 
full, principal and interest, and to assume the war debts of the 
several States as well. There was no objection to paying the 
foreign debt in full, but in respect to full payment of the domestic 
debt Congress had some misgivings. It was pointed out that many 
of the original holders of the certificates of indebtedness had sold 
their securities, either through necessity or through a lack of 
confidence in the Government, at a price far below their face 
value, and that the certificates had passed into the hands of 
speculators. When it was asked, ' ' Should these speculators receive 
face value for certificates which in many instances had been bought 
for a song?" Hamilton's answer was that the Government had 
promised to pay the original holders of the certificates, or their 
assignees, the face value of the debt, and that the Government 
should keep its promise. This view in the end prevailed; all 
holders of the old obligations of the Confederation were permitted 
to exchange their certificates at face value for new bonds. 

Assumption The opposition to the funding of the domestic debt of the Con- 
federation was mild compared to that which was directed against 
the proposed assumption of the State debts. To pay off the debts 
of a State, it was said, with money raised by national taxation 
would saddle upon the States that had small debts more than their 
just proportion of the obligation. The argument against assump- 
tion was urged with such force and the scheme was fought so 
bitterly that it barely escaped rejection by Congress. Hamilton, 
however, contrived to couple the question of assumption with 
another question, namely the location of the new Federal city, or 
national capital, for which provision had been made in the Con- 
stitution. Many of the Southern members of Congress wished the 
new seat of government to be located on the Potomac, while the 
Northern members were in favor of a place further north. Ham- 
ilton, taking advantage of this disagreement, asked Jefferson to use 



HAMILTON'S FINANCIAL MEASURES 147 

his influence with some of the Southern members to induce them vm P ' 
to cast their votes in favor of assumption in consideration of 
certain Northern votes that could be secured for the location of the 
capital on the Potomac. Jefferson acceded to Hamilton's wishes 
and a bargain was struck : the capital was to be removed to Phila- 
delphia, where it was to remain ten years and then permanently 
located on the Potomac, and the State debts were to be assumed. 
The agreement was faithfully kept. Before Congress adjourned it 
made provision for locating the new capital on the banks of the 
Potomac, and it authorized the assumption of the war debts of the 
States. 

Hamilton could now proceed with the execution of his plans. 
All that was necessary was to open new loans and take the old 
certificates and evidences of indebtedness in payment of the sub- 
scription. When the speculators heard of Hamilton's victory they 
bestirred themselves to secure certificates wherever they could be 
found. "Couriers and relay-horses by land," Jefferson tells us, 
"and swift-sailing pilot-boats by sea were flying in all directions. 
Active partners and agents were associated and employed in every 
State, town, and county, and the paper bought up at five shillings 
and even as low as two shillings in the pound, before the holders 
knew that Congress had already provided for its redemption at 
par!" 

But Hamilton 's financial policy included more than the funding B a ^ tional 
of the debt. It was his long-cherished notion that the United 
States ought to have a national bank resembling in great measure 
the Bank of England. Accordingly, when the funding scheme was 
safely through Congress, he brought forward a plan for establish- 
ing a bank in which the new Government should have a direct 
interest. At the time there were but three banks in the entire 
country, one at Boston, one at New York, and one at Philadelphia. 
But these were all State banks operating under State authority. 
Hamilton desired a national bank which should be operated under 
Federal authority. The bank was to act as the fiscal agent of the 
National Government; it was to lend money to the Government 
when borrowing should be necessary; and it was to be a safe 
depository for the Government's funds. A bill embodying Ham- 
ilton 's plan for such a bank gave rise to a long and bitter debate in 
Congress but was finally passed. 



148 SETTING THE NEW GOVERNMENT IN MOTION 



CHAP. 
VIII 



A Constitu- 
tional 
Question 



The First 
Bank of the 
United 
States 



When the bill came to the President he asked the opinions of 
Jefferson and Hamilton as to the constitutionality of the measure, 
for Washington was not sure that the Constitution gave the Federal 
Government power to establish banks. Jefferson's opinion was 
that the Constitution gave no such power. It was not an enu- 
merated power, nor was it one that could be inferred from the 
general clause which provides that Congress shall have power to 
make all laws necessary for carrying into effect the enumerated 
powers; because there was not a single enumerated power which 
could not be exercised without a bank. Hamilton, on the other 
hand, contended that the bank would prove to be a most useful 
instrument in conducting the work of the Government, and because 
it would be useful it could be lawfully established even though the 
Constitution said nothing about banks. ''There is," he said, "a 
natural and obvious relation between the institution of a bank and 
the objects of several of the enumerated powers of government, 
such as collecting taxes and borrowing money, and where such an 
obvious relation exists there is an implication of power : where a 
power to do a thing is enumerated there arises an implied power 
for doing the thing in the fittest manner." Hamilton's reasoning 
convinced Washington, and the bill became a law in February, 
1791. 

The bank — known as the First Bank of the United States — was 
chartered for twenty years with a capital stock of $10,000,000. 
The Government took $2,000,000 of the stock, thereby becoming 
an active partner in the banking business. The enterprise was in 
every way successful. When the books were opened in Philadel- 
phia for the sale of stock all the shares were taken within an hour. 
The notes of the bank were everywhere received at their face value. 
Its stock paid a dividend of 8 per cent, and sometimes sold at a 
premium as high as 50 per cent. And the bank rendered important 
services to the Government. It furnished easy and safe means of 
dealing with the public moneys, and it offered valuable facilities 
for the transaction of public business. Yet notwithstanding its 
great usefulness the bank had many enemies. When its charter* 
expired in 1811, its friends were unable to secure a renewal, and 
the First Bank of the United States passed out of existence. 

Another financial measure suggested by Hamilton related to the 
establishment of a mint. In a report submitted to Congress he 
advocated a decimal system of coinage and a bimetallic currency. 



FEDERALISTS AND REPUBLICANS 149 

Acting upon this report, Congress in 1792 established a mint and viu P ' 
enacted a coinage law which provided "that it shall be lawful for ' 

any person or persons to bring to said mint gold or silver bullion 
in order to their being coined . . . free of expense to the person 
or persons by whom the same shall have been brought. And as 
soon as the said bullion shall have been coined the person or 
persons by whom the same shall have been delivered shall upon 
demand receive in lieu thereof coins of the same species of bullion 
which shall have been so delivered, weight for weight, of pure gold 
or silver therein contained. All gold and silver coins which shall 
have been struck and issued from said mint shall be a lawful 
tender in all payments whatsoever." The relation which was to 
exist between the value of gold and silver was stated in these 
words : ' ' Every fifteen pounds weight of pure silver shall be equal 
value in all payments with one pound of pure gold." The laws of 
1792, therefore, provided for the free coinage of gold and silver 
at the ratio of fifteen to one. This ratio was maintained until 
1834, when a ratio of approximately sixteen to one was established. 

Federalists and Republicans 

We have seen that at the beginning of Washington 's administra- Federalist 
tion there was hardly such a thing as a political party in the Party 
United States. But this condition was not to last long. For the 
controversy which arose over Hamilton's financial measures caused 
men to take sides, with the result that by March, 1791, when the 
first Congress adjourned, two parties were in the process of forma- 
tion. One of these was the party of centralization, the party that 
desired a strong central government. The adherents of this party 
called themselves Federalists, 1 because they wished to build up the 
Federal power under the Constitution. Their leader was the 
secretary of the treasury. Hamilton believed in a liberal or broad 
construction of the Constitution. It was his doctrine, as we saw 
in the case of the bank controversy, that in addition to the powers 
specifically enumerated in the Constitution there were many other 
reserved and implied powers which could be rightfully exercised by 
the Federal Government : a new sovereign nation, he contended, 

1 Before the adoption of the Constitution men called themselves Federalists 
because they wanted the Constitution adopted ; after its adoption a Federalist 
was one who wanted a strong Federal Government under the Constitution. 



150 SETTING THE NEW GOVERNMENT IN MOTION 

viii P - had been brought into being by the events of the Revolution and 

" the adoption of the Constitution, and this nation by the very fact 

of its existence possessed all the powers that a nation ought to 
have, whether all were mentioned in the Constitution or not. 
According to this view the powers of the Federal Government were 
virtually unlimited. As for the powers of the State, these were of 
secondary importance and must be circumscribed and measured 
by the practical necessities of the nation. 
Democratic- ^° °PP ose the centralizing influences of the Federalists the 
Part' blk:n Republican party — Democratic-Republican was its official title — 
was organized. The leader of the Republicans was the secretary of 
state. Jefferson believed that decentralization was the key to good 
government. "The way to have good and safe government," he 
said, "is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the 
many. Let the National Government be entrusted with the defense 
of the nation and its foreign and federal relations, the State 
government with the civil rights, laws, police, and administration 
of what concerns the State generally, the counties with the local 
concerns of the counties; and each ward [township] direct the 
interests within itself. It is by dividing and subdividing these 
republics, from the great national one down through all its sub- 
divisions until it ends in the administration of every man's farm 
by himself, that all will be done for the best." Cherishing these 
particularistic views, Jefferson was, of course, seized with political 
shivers when he saw the Federalists carrying everything before 
them in the name of strong government. He sincerely believed 
they were galloping toward monarchy, and he quickly sprang for- 
ward to check them. As an offset to Hamilton's doctrine of broad 
construction he announced a theory of strict construction, the 
essence of which was that the only powers which the Federal 
Government could lawfully and rightfully bring into use were 
those which were explicitly enumerated in the Constitution; all 
other powers belonged to the State. If a new power for the 
Federal Government should be desirable it should be secured by 
way of amendment and not by way of interpretation. 

In their notions of government and society Jefferson and Ham- 
ilton were as far apart as it was possible for two men to be. ' ' The 
idea for which Jefferson stood," says J. P. Gordy, "was the precise 
opposite of that which constituted the ruling principle of Hamil- 
ton's political life. The ruling idea of Hamilton was his love of 



Hamilton's 
Views Con- 
trasted with 
Jefferson's 



FEDERALISTS AND REPUBLICANS 151 

justice, stability, and order; the ruling idea of Jefferson was his ym P ' 

love of liberty and his belief in its practicability to a greater 

extent and in a larger scale than the world had ever seen. The 
one thought the supreme need of society was a government strong 
enough and intelligent enough to enforce justice and preserve 
order; the other regarded liberty, and a government too weak to 
curtail it, as the supreme political good." Hamilton distrusted 
democracy because he believed it would not produce a good govern- 
ment. Jefferson loved democracy because it meant self-govern- 
ment, and this to his mind was more important than good govern- 
ment. Indeed to him self-government and good government meant 
about the same thing. Hamilton thought it better to expose 
society to the selfishness of the intelligent few than to the ignorance 
of the untrained multitude ; Jefferson thought it wiser to let 
society suffer the consequences of its own ignorance than to trust 
to the tender mercies of the intelligent. If the people sometimes 
erred, they had a right to their own mistakes. 

The line of cleavage between the Federalists and the Republicans ^^ r 
in a very short time became clear and distinct, and party warfare 
became fierce. The Federalists regarded their opponents as 
anarchists, as enemies not only of the Constitution but of all 
government. In the opinion of the Federalists a Republican hated 
strong government because he was unwilling to obey the laws and 
pay his debts and live a decent life. The Republicans in turn 
accused the Federalists of being traitors to the cause of liberty 
and enemies of republican institutions; they asserted that the 
Federalist party was under British influence, the charge resting 
upon the fact that many of the leaders of the party were closely 
connected with persons who stood high in the financial and political 
life of Great Britain. They saw in Hamilton's financial schemes 
deep-laid plans for corruption in government and for establishing 
a monarchy. Party lines were so sharply drawn and party spirit 
ran so high that close personal friends ceased to speak to each 
other. "Men," said Jefferson, "who have been intimate all their 
lives cross the streets to avoid meeting and turn their heads another 
way lest they should be obliged to touch their hats. ' ' 

The results of party division were clearly seen in 1792 in the Rg| lection 
second Presidential election. Washington, it is true, was reelected $ ashingt01 
unanimously, for both the Republican and the Federalist electors 
gave him their votes. But in the election of Vice-President there 



152 SETTING THE NEW GOVERNMENT IN MOTION 

vm P ' was a Pl &ni manifestation of party spirit. The Republicans tried 

to defeat Adams, who was a strong Federalist, by bringing out 

George Clinton, of New York. But this effort failed, for Adams 
received seventy-seven votes while Clinton received only fifty. In 
Congress, however, the Republicans had better success, for in the 
House which was elected in 1792 they had a majority. 
a Govern- Washington, although himself a Federalist, tried throughout 

ment of °. . ... 

Parties his first term to maintain a non-partisan administration. But the 
experiment was a failure. By the time his second term was well 
under way, he was convinced that a bipartisan cabinet was unde- 
sirable. "I shall not," he said in 1795, "while I have the honor to 
administer the Government, bring a man into any office of con- 
sequence knowingly whose political tenets are adverse to the 
measures which the general Government is pursuing, for this, in 
my opinion, would be little better than political suicide." As a 
result of this determination the important offices soon became filled 
with the friends of strong government and of the administration; 
that is, with Federalists. Thus early in our history our govern- 
ment became a government of parties and it has never ceased to be 
administered on a party basis. And early, too, did it become the 
custom to appoint men to office as a reward for party service: 
"The spoils system, indeed," says Channing, "instead of being 
an innovation of Jacksonian Democrats or Jeffersonian Republi- 
cans, was an inheritance from the Federalist Presidents." 

Suggested Readings 

First administration of George Washington : Sehouler, Vol. I, pp. 284-287. 

Hamilton's financial system : McMaster, Vol. I, pp. 509-583. 

Washington's reelection : Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 32-41. 

Alexander Hamilton : Gordy, Vol. I, pp. 103-117. 

Thomas Jefferson : Gordy, Vol. I, pp. 132-158. 

High finance: Channing, Vol. IV, pp. 90-110. 

Rise of political parties : Channing, Vol. I, pp. 150-176. 



IX 

TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 

DURING Washington's first term (1789-93) statesmen were 
engaged chiefly in the business of organizing the Federal 
departments, in carrying out the financial plans of Hamilton, and 
in attending to other matters of domestic concern. Foreign prob- 
lems during the first administration did not embarrass the Govern- 
ment in a serious manner, while the domestic problems which arose 
were for the most part such as could be solved without any great 
disturbance of the public mind. During his second term, however, 
Washington had to deal with most perplexing questions of foreign 
policy, and, at the same time, meet a troublesome condition of 
affairs at home. 

The French Revolution 

Early in Washington's second term the United States was The People 
drawn into the whirlpool of foreign affairs by the mighty social Assert 

Their 

upheaval known as the French Revolution. For centuries the Power 
common people of France had been oppressively taxed by a corrupt 
and extravagant government and had been ground under the heel 
of a cruel and arrogant aristocracy. About the time, however, that 
the independence of America was secured France was awakened 
from the torpor of despotism in which she was sunk, and before 
many years had passed the sentiment of the nation was ripe for 
revolution. In 1789 the revolt came, and the power of the people 
was asserted in terrible fashion. The old society was torn up from 
its foundations. All the institutions of privilege and rank were 
swept away ; the feudal system was abolished and peasants became 
the possessors of land ; the rights of man were formally stated in a 
bill of rights ; liberty was declared to consist in the freedom to do 
everything which injures no one else; a democratic organization of 
society was proclaimed. For a time the king was allowed to retain 
his throne. But monarchy, too, was doomed. In January, 1793, a 
revolutionary body, the National Convention, declared France to 

153 



154 



TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 



CHAP. 
IX 



The 

Attitude of 
America 
Toward the 
Revolution 



The 

Monarchsof 

Europe 

Unite 

Against 

France 



be a republic, and Louis XVI, the proud descendant of a hundred 
kings, was guillotined near the broken statue of one of his own 
ancestors. 

In the United States the progress of the Revolution was followed 
with the keenest interest. By the majority of the American people 
the new republic across the sea was greeted as a welcome sister, 
and the Revolution itself was regarded with feelings of the warmest 
sympathy. The Republicans were especially well pleased with the 
happenings in France. Jefferson, speaking of the excesses of the 
Revolution, wrote as follows in 1793: ''In the struggle which was 
necessary many guilty persons fell without the form of a trial, and 
with them some innocent. These I deplore as much as anybody, 
and shall deplore some of them to the day of my death. But I 
deplore them as I should have done had they fallen in battle. It 
was necessary to use the arm of the people, a machine not so blind 
as balls and bombs, but blind to a certain degree. The liberty of 
the whole earth was depending on the issue of the contest, and was 
ever such a prize won with so little innocent blood? My own 
affections have been deeply wounded by some of the martyrs in the 
cause, but rather than it should have failed I would have seen the 
whole earth desolated; were there but an Adam and Eve left in 
every country, and left free, it would be better than it is now. ' ' 

But not all Americans were so enthusiastic as Jefferson. Men 
of a conservative temperament looked with dismay upon the course 
of the Revolution, especially after the guillotine had begun its 
bloody work. Federalists in particular regarded the upheaval with 
disfavor. "Sir," said Hamilton in 1793, "if all the people in 
America were now assembled and were to call on me to say whether 
I am a friend to the French Revolution, I would declare that I hold 
it in abhorrence. ' ' 

The French Revolution profoundly influenced the course of 
events in every part of the civilized world. In America its effect 
at first was merely to stir up the emotions and cause a division of 
sentiment between its friends, the radicals, and its enemies, the 
conservatives. But soon the Revolution gave rise to practical 
questions of such vital importance that they could not be settled 
by sentimental considerations. 

A few weeks before the execution of Louis XVI the National 
Convention issued a decree calling upon the subjects of every 
country in Europe to rise in rebellion against their kings. This 



WAR OR NEUTRALITY? 155 

action alarmed every monarch in Europe. Within a few months ££* AP - 

France was struggling with the combined forces of Great Britain, 

Holland, Spain, Austria, and Prussia, and a war was begun which 
raged for twenty years. 

War or Neutrality? 

The moment Great Britain and France fell to fighting Wash- J™ u $* 
ington saw trouble ahead. It was certain that France would rely gt^f 
upon the United States for aid, and of course it was equally certain 
that if the aid should be given the hostility of England would be 
incurred. The problem which confronted Washington was full of 
difficulties. By the treaty made with France in 1778 x we were 
required to defend the French interests in the West Indies and to 
grant to France certain special privileges in our own ports. Fur- 
thermore, we owed a debt of gratitude to France for the helping 
hand which she had extended to us during the war for independ- 
ence. Still another thing which Washington had to consider was 
the state of public opinion in the United States. This unquestion- 
ably was on the side of France. "By a great proportion of the 
people," said John Marshall, "it was deemed almost criminal to 
remain unconcerned spectators of a conflict between their ancient 
enemy and republican France. The feeling upon this occasion 
was almost universal. Men of all parties partook of it. The war 
was confidently and generally pronounced a war of aggression on 
the part of Great Britain, undertaken for the sole purpose of 
imposing a monarchical government on the French people. The 
few who did not embrace these opinions, and they were certainly 
very few, were held up as objects of public detestation, and were 
calumniated as the tools of Britain and the satellites of despotism. ' ' 

Before deciding upon the policy to be followed in respect to the Neutrality 
two belligerents, Washington promptly sent to each member of his 
cabinet a number of questions, of which the three most important 
were these: (1) Should a proclamation be issued containing a 
declaration of neutrality between France and England? (2) Was 
the United States obliged by good faith to consider the treaties 
heretofore made with France as applying to the existing situation ? 
(3) Should a minister from the republic of France be received? 
At a cabinet meeting it was unanimously agreed that a proclama- 

1 See p. 84. 



156 



TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 



(HAP. 
IX 



Edmond 
Genet 



The 

Conduct of 
England 



tion of neutrality should be issued and that a minister should be 
received. The question as to the binding force of previous treaties 
was postponed for further consideration. Washington thereupon 
issued a proclamation of neutrality, in which he declared that a 
state of peace existed with both France and England and warned 
all citizens to abstain from acts of hostility. 

But the path of neutrality was as hard in the days of President 
Washington as it was in the days of President Wilson. Two weeks 
before the proclamation was issued Edmond Genet, the minister 
of the new French republic and an ardent champion of liberty, 
landed at Charleston, where he was joyfully received by the people. 
He immediately commissioned four privateers, manned chiefly by 
Americans, and sent them out upon the sea to attack British ves- 
sels. Leaving Charleston he journeyed overland to Philadelphia, 
where thousands of citizens joined in heaping honors upon him. 
But in official circles he met with one disappointment after another. 
He was received coldly by Washington, and he found himself im- 
peded at every step by the policy of neutrality to which the 
Government had committed itself. The refusal of the administra- 
tion to cooperate with France threw the ebullient minister into a 
passion which led him to defy the Government. He declared that 
he would appeal from the President to the people. His violence 
went so far that the administration determined to send him out of 
the country, but before his dismissal he was recalled by his own 
Government. He did not, however, return to France ; having won 
the hand of an American lady, he subsided quietly into domestic 
life in New York, ''the waters of forgetfulness closing over him as 
he disappeared from public sight." 

In the case of France, Washington by adhering strictly to the 
course of neutrality was able to uphold the national honor and, at 
the same time, to preserve peace. To do the same thing in the 
case of England seemed for a time impossible, for while our Govern- 
ment was struggling with Genet, England entered upon a policy 
that threatened to force the United States into war in spite of 
Washington's desire for peace. In June, 1793, the English Govern- 
ment, wishing to stop foodstuffs going to France, instructed the 
commanders of English ships of war to seize all neutral vessels 
loaded wholly or in part with flour, corn, or meat bound to any 
port in France. A few months later similar orders were issued 
prohibiting all neutral trade with French colonies. In the exe- 



WAR OR NEUTRALITY? 157 

cution of these orders hundreds of American vessels were seized S-| IAP 

and in many instances valuable cargoes were condemned. More- 

over, British naval officers persisted in searching American ships 
for seamen of British birth, and if any English-born subjects were 
found they were taken and impressed into the service of Great 
Britain. This in itself was an offense to which we could not submit 
and maintain our self-respect. But the naval officers went even 
farther and took American-born citizens from American vessels 
and impressed them. 

The conduct of Great Britain was so high-handed that the Fed- p*™* 
eral authorities were forced to take action. Ought war be declared 
or could the crisis be passed without resort to arms? In Congress, 
where the question of war or peace would have to be settled, there 
was no decided sentiment in favor of war. The Federalist mem- 
bers were for adjusting the difficulties between the two countries 
by diplomatic means, if possible, but, in the meantime, they favored 
making preparations for war. The Republicans were opposed to 
war and did not favor preparing for it. Moreover, they were 
opposed to negotiations with England. Their plan was one sug- 
gested by their leader. "I should hope," wrote Jefferson to 
Madison, "that Congress, instead of a declaration of war, would 
instantly exclude from our ports all the manufactures, produce, 
vessels, and subjects of the nation committing this aggression 
during the continuance of this aggression, and till full satisfaction 
is made for it." The plan of commercial restriction was popular 
in Congress. A Non-Importation Bill was passed in the House by 
a decisive vote, and was lost in the Senate only by the casting vote 
of Vice-President Adams. 

If the Non-Importation Bill had passed it would doubtless have Jay's 
been vetoed, for it was fraught with possibilities of war, while the 
President was bent upon peace. Moreover, it would have defeated 
completely the diplomatic purposes of the administration. The 
President had already sent John Jay to London to negotiate a 
treaty which he hoped would establish better relations between the 
United States and Great Britain. Jay was well received in Eng- 
land, and he succeeded in making a treaty; but it was one which 
promised to redress few of the wrongs of which the United States 
complained. It left England free to impress American sailors; it 
left her free to prohibit American trade with the French colonies; 
it permitted her to confiscate French goods on American vessels. 



Treaty 



158 TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 

i£ AP - Only in one important respect was it entirely satisfactory to Ameri- 

cans; it provided for the early evacuation of the western forts, 

which the British were still holding despite the stipulations of 
1783. 1 

When the terms of Jay's Treaty were made public a storm of 
indignation swept over the entire country. In many places effigies 
of Jay and the treaty were burned together. In New York Hamil- 
ton attempted to make a speech in defense of the treaty but was 
driven from the platform by a volley of stones. In Boston some 
one chalked in large letters the inscription: "Damn John Jay! 
Damn every one that won 't damn John Jay ! ! Damn every one 
that won 't sit up all night damning John Jay ! ! ! " The result of 
such tumultuous exhibitions of sentiment was to create in the 
United States a French party and a British party, the Republicans 
as a rule aligning themselves with the former and the Federalists 
with the latter; and for twenty years the principal question to be 
asked about the politics of an American was, Did he belong to the 
French faction or to the English faction? 
Ratification Washington was not at all satisfied with the terms of the treaty ; 
but after he had consulted Hamilton, who had resigned from the 
cabinet but who was still the President's most trusted adviser, he 
sent the treaty to the Senate. It was ratified in June, 1795, and in 
March, 1796, it was proclaimed by Washington to be the law of the 
land. But even after this proclamation the treaty encountered 
dangers in the House of Representatives, where a determined effort 
was made to nullify it. Since an appropriation by Congress was 
necessary for the execution of the treaty its enemies in the House 
attempted to nullify it by refusing the appropriation. They first 
brought forward a resolution asserting the right of the House to 
deliberate upon any treaty which involved the expenditure of 
money. Having succeeded in passing the resolution, they then 
undertook to defeat the bill appropriating the necessary money. 
But in this they failed; for the bill passed by the narrow vote of 
fifty-one to forty-eight. 

For historians Jay's Treaty is a perdurable bone of contention. 
By some writers it is praised as a master-stroke of statesmanship; 
by others it is denounced as a piece of base opportunism. To the 
mind of Washington the adoption of the treaty was simply an act 
of practical wisdom, The great man believed that if the treaty 
* See p. 90, 



THE WHISKY REBELLION 159 

should be rejected his policy of neutrality would break down, and fJ? AP - 

the country would be plunged into a disastrous and unnecessary 

war with England. In order to preserve neutrality, he supported 
the treaty. 

While Jay's Treaty was under consideration steps were being Treaty with 

Spain 

taken to negotiate with Spain a treaty which would establish our 
rights in the Mississippi Valley. For years Spain had been claim- 
ing the sole right of navigation on the Mississippi and had inter- 
fered with American traffic on that stream in a most exasperating 
manner. 1 Our diplomats had attempted to effect a treaty that 
would open the river to American vessels, but in vain. At last the 
people of Kentucky and Tennessee threatened to throw diplomacy 
to the winds, and right their own wrongs by the use of force. This 
restlessness in the West had a good effect upon the Governments 
both of the United States and of Spain ; for in 1795 the long-desired 
treaty was negotiated. It was agreed that Americans might use the 
river and that they should be permitted to land their goods at New 
Orleans and transfer them to ocean-going vessels. The treaty was 
satisfactory to the Westerners for by opening the Mississippi to 
them it opened the door to the markets of the world. 

The Whisky Rebellion 

About the time Jay was beginning the negotiation of his un- ^Jum*' 
popular treaty the President found himself obliged to use the Su PP ress *d 
armed strength of the Federal Government to carry out an unpop- 
ular law. As the customs duties levied by the law of 1789 had 
failed to raise revenue sufficient to meet the expenses of the Gov- 
ernment, Congress in 1792 had imposed an internal revenue tax 
on distilled spirits. This law created widespread dissatisfaction in 
North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. In the western 
counties of Pennsylvania the execution of the law led to open 
violence. The frontiersmen were accustomed to convert their corn 
into whisky because such a bulky article as corn could not be car- 
ried to Eastern markets over the bad roads and sold at a profit. 
When the Federal revenue officers attempted to collect the whisky 
tax they were stoutly resisted. In one instance the enemies of the 
law tarred and feathered a revenue officer. Opposition to the tax 
began to show itself as early as 1792, but it was in 1794 that the 

1 See p. 115. 



160 TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 

ix* AP ' Whisky Insurrection — as the uprising was called — really began. 

In the summer of that year the execution of the law was in some 

places checked by downright lawlessness. A mass-meeting of nearly 
7000 insurgents was held at Braddock's Field near Pittsburg, and 
preparations were made to array the whole population of four 
counties against the authority of the United States. As the insur- 
rection had now reached the pitch of organized rebellion, Washing- 
ton decided to act: he sent 15,000 soldiers, chiefly militiamen, 
against the lawbreakers, and the Whisky Insurrection was quickly 
put down. All who had joined in the uprising were pardoned by 
the President, 
significance ^ n ^ s nisurrec tion, in itself a trivial matter, was really an event 
ernmeni-T °^ £ rea t significance. "It was," says Henry Cabot Lodge, "the 
Action fi rs f; direct challenge to the new Government. It came, as it always 
does, to one man to make the answer. That man took up the 
challenge. . . . The action of the Government vindicated the right 
of the United States to live, because they had proved themselves 
able to keep order. It proved to the American people that their 
Government was a reality of force and power. If it had gone 
wrong, the history of the United States would not have differed 
widely from that of the Confederation. . . . The crushing of that 
insurrection in the western counties of Pennsylvania was one of 
the turning points in the nation 's life. ' ' 

A Westward-moving People 

Theme of While the insurgent distillers were giving so much trouble in 

Hi^tor° an western Pennsylvania, the Indians a little further west were spread- 
ing terror among the whites of the Northwest Territory. To under- 
stand what was taking place in that region we must trace the 
course of Western development during the years that followed the 
Revolution ; for the history of America cannot be faithfully told if 
the West is neglected. The history of our country was for nearly 
two hundred and fifty years the history of a mighty westward 
movement which began at Jamestown in 1607 and did not end until 
the Pacific coast was reached in the middle of the nineteenth 
century. Throughout this whole period the current of American 
life was always setting strongly to the west. Men were always 
leaving the older Eastern settlements and pushing deeper and 
deeper into the Western forests, and farther and farther out on 



A WESTWARD-MOVING PEOPLE 161 

the Western plains. The historian, then, must from time to time £F AP - 

turn away from affairs of national administration, from the contest 

of political parties, and the deeds of Presidents and Congress, to 
trace the progress of this westward movement and show how the 
great West was brought under the control of the white man and 
built up into flourishing States. 

Before the Revolution the progress of the westward movement westward 
was slow, because the English Government gave but little encour- ^terThe 
agement to western settlement, 1 but as soon as the western country Revolution 
came into the possession of the United States and the Ohio Valley 
was thrown open to settlers white men from all parts of the world 
began to rush into the new lands like hungry cattle into new 
pastures. In twenty years after the acknowledgment of our inde- 
pendence the frontier line moved farther westward than it had 
moved in a century under British rule. At the close of the Revo- 
lution there were probably not more than 50,000 white inhabitants 
within the boundaries of the United States west of the Alleghanies ; 
by 1800 the population of this region had jumped to nearly 
400,000. 

As soon as a region was filled with a sufficient number of settlers Vermont 
steps were taken to organize it either as a Territory or as a State. 
If organized as a State it was admitted into the Union on an equal 
footing with the other States. The first State to be admitted into 
the Union under the Constitution was Vermont, a pioneer com- 
munity whose development may be fittingly included in the story 
of the westward movement. The Green Mountain people during 
the Revolution had adopted a constitution and had declared Ver- 
mont to be an independent State ; but it was not recognized as such, 
for the reason that the Vermont region was claimed by New York. 
In 1790, however, New York relinquished her claim, and in the next 
year Vermont came into the Union as its first adopted daughter. 

By this time there were two communities in the West that deemed fennel 
themselves worthy of the honor of Statehood. These were Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee. Kentucky, it will be remembered, originally 
belonged to Virginia, but the Kentuckians desired to live under 
the government of a separate State. After years of agitation their 
wishes were fulfilled: in 1788 Virginia consented to a separation, 
and in 1792 Kentucky was admitted as the second of the adopted 
States. 

1 See p. 46. 



162 



TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 



CHAP 
IX 



Mississippi 
Territory 



Settlement 
of the 
Upper 
Valleys 
of the Ohio 



The 

Northwest 
Territory 



Tennessee originally belonged to North Carolina, but that State 
was neglectful of her western child. She allowed the Tennesseans 
to shift for themselves, until at last, for their own defense and 
safety, they organized in 1784 as a separate commonwealth, calling 
the new State Franklin in honor of Benjamin Franklin. John 
Sevier, a pioneer hero, was chosen governor of Franklin, but he 
was soon shorn of his power; for in 1788 North Carolina asserted 
her control of the Tennessee country, and the officers of Franklin 
were ousted. In 1790 Tennessee was given over by North Carolina 
to Congress to be governed as a Territory. It remained in this 
position until 1796, when the people, now nearly 60,000 in number, 
framed for themselves a constitution, and secured admission into 
the Union as the sixteenth State. In 1798, a strip of land bounded 
on the west by the Mississippi, on the north by a line drawn due 
east from the mouth of the Yazoo to the Chattahoochee River, and 
on the south by the thirty-first degree of north latitude, was set off 
and organized as the Mississippi Territory. 

The most interesting and important event connected with the 
western movement during the closing years of the eighteenth 
century, however, was the advance of civilization in the Ohio 
country. The settlement of the upper valleys of the Ohio had 
begun before the Revolution. In 1765 the town of Pittsburg was 
laid out. Between 1766 and 1770 many settlers established homes 
in the Monongahela Valley. By 1770, in the country lying between 
the Ohio and Monongahela rivers there were about 1500 white 
inhabitants, most of them Scotch-Irish. In 1769 Ebenezer Zane, 
a God-fearing, Bible-loving Scotch Presbyterian, made the first 
clearing at the mouth of Wheeling Creek and laid the foundations 
of the city of Wheeling. These settlements were all made on the 
south bank of the Ohio. The north side of the Ohio was strictly 
' ' Indian Country, ' ' 1 and no permanent settlements were made on 
that side of the river before the Revolution. 

But the country north of the Ohio was one of the finest regions 
in the world, and its occupation by white settlers could not long 
be deferred. Early in the days of the Confederation pioneers were 
beginning to float down the Ohio in flatboats and build their homes 
on the soil of the Northwest Territory. In a few years so many 
white people were living in this western domain that it became 
necessary for them to have some form of government. In 1787, 

1 See p. 40. 



A WESTWARD-MOVING PEOPLE 



163 



in response to the needs of some New Englanders who were pro- 
jecting a settlement at the confluence of the Ohio and the Muskin- 
gum rivers, Congress passed an ordinance setting forth the manner 
m which new communities in the Northwest should be governed. 
The Ordinance of 1787 provided (1) that not less than three nor 
more than five States should be formed out of the Northwest 
Territory; (2) that each State should have a republican form of 
government; (3) that there should be neither slavery nor invol- 
untary servitude in the territory, otherwise than for punishment 
for crime; (4) that religious liberty should be guaranteed; (5) that 
education should be encouraged; (6) that the utmost good faith 
should always be observed toward the Indians, their lands and 




Early Ohio 

property should not be taken from them without their consent, and 

laws should be made from time to time for preventing wrongs 

being done to them and for preserving peace and friendship with 

them; (7) that when one of the political communities should have 

60,000 inhabitants it should be admitted into the Union on an 

equal footing with the original States in all respects; (8) that until 

a community should be large enough for Statehood it should be 

governed as a Territory. The Territory provided by the Ordinance 

was to pass through two stages of government. In its first stage, 

when the number of its legal voters was less than 5000, it was to 

have no law-making body and was to be governed entirely by a 

governor, judges, and other officers appointed by Congress. 1 When 

the number of legal voters should come to be more than 5000 the 

Territory was to pass into the second stage of government and to 

1 After the adoption of the Constitution the appointment of the Territorial 
officers was made by the President. 



CHAP. 
IX 



The 

Ordinance 
of 1787 



164 



TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 



(HAP. 
IX 



The Effects 
of the 
Ordinance 
of 1787 



Settlement 
of the Ohio 
Country 



be given a Territorial legislature. The Ordinance of 1787 was the 
last important law passed by the old Congress of the Confederation. 
It was promptly reenacted by the Congress organized under the 
Constitution. 

The effects of the Ordinance of 1787 upon the course of American 
history were so far-reaching that it was regarded as being almost 
as important as the Constitution itself. Two of its provisions were 
of the most profound significance. The clause providing the form 
of government that should prevail in the Northwest Territory 
foreshadowed the policy that resulted in giving new communities, 
wherever they might arise, the precious boon of self-government. 
The Territories while in their infancy were to be treated as colonial 
dependencies, but so soon as they were large enough and strong 
enough to govern themselves they were to be clothed with all the 
power and rights of an American State. Of almost equal signifi- 
cance and influence was the clause prohibiting slavery in the North- 
west Territory. It is true that slavery would in all probability 
have been excluded from this region by other causes — by an un- 
favorable climate, and by settlement by a population desiring a 
system of free labor, — but it is also true, as will be seen hereafter, 1 
that whenever efforts were made to introduce slavery into the 
country north of the Ohio the ordinance always stood as an in- 
superable barrier. "It impressed," says Rhodes, "on the soil 
itself, while yet a wilderness, an incapacity to sustain any others 
than freemen." 

Having secured the passage of the ordinance, and having con- 
tracted with Congress for the purchase of nearly 5,000,000 acres of 
land at an actual price of about ten cents an acre, the New Eng- 
enders promptly began the hard work of settlement. They sent 
out pamphlets calling attention to the delightful climate and rich 
soil of the Ohio region and assuring readers that nowhere else 
could they be so prosperous and happy as in the West. A vanguard 
of about fifty settlers led by Rufus Putnam set out at once and in 
the spring of 1788 landed at the mouth of the Muskingum River 
in a bullet-proof barge which bore the illustrious name of May- 
floiver. It was well that this barge was bullet-proof, for in the 
woods along the north bank of the Ohio there lurked many a savage 
with a gun in his hands and mischief in his heart. The Mayflower 
party went ashore opposite Fort Hamar, where a small guard of 

'See p. 351. 



A WESTWARD-MOVING PEOPLE 



165 



soldiers was stationed. In the winning of the Ohio, soldiers and f^ AP ' 
settlers went hand in hand, and every acre of land won by the ax — — 
and the plow had to be guarded and defended by the rifle. 

Under the protection of the soldiers the New Englanders began 
to fell trees and build homes and to lay the foundation of Marietta, 
where the wheels of a Territorial Government were set in motion 
in July, 1788; for General Arthur St. Clair had come out as the 
governor of the Territory. A few months later, in December, 1788, 
twenty-six settlers landed at the foot of what is now Sycamore 
Street in Cincinnati and began to build a town which they called 
Losantiville, but which afterwards received the name of Cincin- 




Boundaries established by the Treaty of Greenville 

nati. Other settlements quickly followed and within a few years 
the towns of Belpre, Gallipolis, Portsmouth, Manchester, and South 
Bend sprang up on the banks of the Ohio. 

As white men became more numerous in the Ohio country the The 

Treaty of 

red men became more troublesome. In 1791 Governor St. Clair Greenville 
was compelled to march against the Indians, but he suffered a 
terrible defeat. General Anthony Wayne was then sent against 
the red warriors. Meeting them in battle at Fallen Timbers, he 
dealt them such a blow that they gladly entered in 1790 into an 
agreement known as the Treaty of Greenville. This was a real 
treaty ; for from the beginning, the Government adopted the policy 
of dealing with an Indian tribe as if it were an independent nation, 
a policy that was not abandoned until late in the nineteenth 
century. Treaties with Indian tribes, however small or insignifi- 



166 



TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 



CHAP. 
IX 



The 

Territory 

Northwest 

of the Ohio ; 

Indiana 

Territory 



cant, were clothed in the same stately language as the most im- 
portant treaty with a great European power. By the Treaty of 
Greenville a boundary line between the Indians and the whites 
was established. The lands south and east of the line, including 
about two thirds of the present State of Ohio, were ceded to the 
whites; those north and west of the line were to remain in the 
possession of the red men. 

With the Indians out of the way the settlement of the Ohio 
country could go on without serious hindrance. Towns were built 
farther up the streams and farther inland. In 1795 Dayton and 
Chillicothe were founded, and the next year saw the beginnings of 
the great city of Cleveland. 

In 1800, the carving of the Northwest Territory into separate 
political divisions began. By a line running north and south at 
the western border of what is now Ohio the Territory was divided 
into two parts, each of which was organized as a distinct Territory. 
The eastern portion was given the name of Territory Northwest of 
the Ohio, while the eastern portion was called Indiana Territory. 
The population of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio was now 
more than 40,000, and its people were already clamoring for State- 
hood under the terms of the Ordinance of 1787. 

Thus by 1800 the seeds of American civilization had been sown 
throughout a large part of the country beyond the mountains. 
Two flourishing States west of the Alleghanies had been added to 
the Union, and great Territories had been organized and furnished 
with the machinery of civil government. Along with this devel- 
opment there was, of course, an enormous increase in the area of 
settlement and a rapid advance of the frontier line. The settled 
area of the United States in 1790 had been about 240,000 square 
miles; in 1800 it was upwards of 360,000 square miles. The 
frontier line in 1790, if we disregard the detached settlements, was 
in some places still east of the Alleghanies ; in 1800 in many places 
it was hundreds of miles west of the mountains. 



The Close op Washington's Presidency 



Washington 
Retires to 
Private 
Life 



While the pioneers of the West were struggling with the Indians 
and solving the problems of the wilderness, the statesmen at Phila- 
delphia continued to struggle with the difficulties arising out of 
the disturbed condition of foreign affairs. The war between France 



THE CLOSE OF WASHINGTON'S PRESIDENCY 167 

and England still raged, and the American policy of neutrality was fx AP * 
resulting in a peace that was almost as disquieting as war itself. 
Washington was still holding the ship of state firm to the course 
of neutrality ; but in 1796, when his second term was drawing to a 
close, he determined that another man must be placed at the helm. 
The great man was now weary of the cares of office, and he was 
distressed by the torrents of abuse that were beating upon him. 
His advocacy of Jay's Treaty made him the object of fierce male- 
diction. He was bitterly denounced as an Anglomaniac and as a 
betrayer of France. His connection with the Federalist party 
caused the Republicans to regard him as their greatest enemy, and 
he was subjected to outbursts of party spleen. In February, 1796, 
the House of Representatives, then controlled by the Republicans, 
refused to adjourn for half an hour in order to go and pay him its 
respects, as it had up to that time been accustomed to do. Yet in 
spite of all this Washington was still strong in the affection of the 
people, and there is no doubt that if he had desired a third term 
he would have been elected. He felt, however, that the time had 
come for him to withdraw from public life; and when his second 
term ended on March 4, 1797, he retired to Mount Vernon, where 
he lived quietly and happily until his death on December 31, 1799. 

A few months before his retirement Washington published his ^n^Fare- 
Farewell Address, a document which has come down to us as one country 11 ' 8 
of our most sacred political treasures. In the address the people 
were warned against the dangers of sectionalism, of partisanship, 
and of the spirit of encroachment of one department of government 
upon another. The importance of cherishing and sustaining the 
Union was urged. The passage of the address which took depest 
root in the public mind was the one which admonished America 
against intervention in the affairs of Europe. The most significant 
portions of the address are given herewith in full : 

WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

Friends, & Fellow-Citizens : 

The period for a new election of a Citizen, to administer the 
Executive government of the United States, being not far distant, 
and the time actually arrived, when your thoughts must be em- 
ployed in designating the person, who is to be cloathed with that 
important trust it appears to me proper, especially as it may con- 



men 



168 TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 

ix AF ' diice to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should 

now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being 

considered among the number of those, out of whom a choice is to 
be made. . . . 

A solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, 
and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me 
on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contempla- 
tion, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments ; 
which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable obser- 
vation and which appear to me all important to the permanency of 
your felicity as a People. . . . 

The Unity of Government which constitutes you one people is 
also now dear to you. It is justly so ; for it is a main Pillar in the 
Edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility 
at home ; your peace abroad ; of your safety ; of your prosperity ; of 
that very Liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to 
foresee, that from different causes & from different quarters, much 
pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your 
minds the conviction of this truth ; as this is the point in your 
political fortress against which the batteries of internal & external 
enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly 
& insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment, that you should 
properly estimate the immense value of your national Union to 
your collective & individual happiness; that you should cherish a 
cordial, habitual & immoveable attachment to it : accustoming your- 
selves to think and speak of it as the Palladium of your political 
safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous 
anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion 
that it can in any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning 
upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of 
our Country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now 
link together the various parts. . . . 

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, pro- 
tected by the equal Laws of a common government, finds in the pro- 
ductions of the latter, great additional resources of maritime & 
commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing 
industry. The South in the same Intercourse, benefitting by the 
agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow & its commerce 
expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the 
North, it finds its particular navigation envigorated ; and while it 
contributes, in different ways, to nourish & increase the general 
mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection 
of a maritime strength, to which itself is unequally adapted. The 



THE CLOSE OF WASHINGTON'S PRESIDENCY 169 

East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the ™ A *- 

progressive improvement of interior communications, by land & 

water, will more & more find a valuable vent for the commodities 
which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West 
derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth & comfort, 
and what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of neces- 
sity owe the secure enjoyment of indespensable outlets for its own 
production to the weight, influence, and the future maritime 
strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indis- 
soluble community of Interest as one Nation. Any other tenure by 
which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived 
from its own separate strength, or from an apostate & unnatural 
connection with any foreign Power, must be intrinsically precarious. 

While then every part of our country thus feels an immediate & 
particular Interest in Union, all the parts combined cannot fail to 
find in the united mass of means & efforts greater strength, greater 
resource, proportionately greater security from external danger, a 
less frequent interruption of their Peace by foreign Nations; and, 
what is of inestimable value ! they must derive from the Union an 
exemption from those broils and Wars between themselves, which 
so frequently afflict neighboring countries, not tied together by the 
same government ; which their own rivalship alone would be 
sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attach- 
ments & intrigues would stimulate & imbitter. Hence likewise they 
will avoid the necessity of those over grown Military establishments, 
which under any form of Government are inauspicious to liberty, 
and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican 
Liberty. . . . 

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflect- 
ing & virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as 
a primary object of Patriotic desire. Is there a doubt, whether a 
common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experi- 
ence solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were 
criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of 
the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respec- 
tive Subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. 'T is 
well worth a fair and full experiment. . . . 

In contemplating the cause which may disturb our Union, it 
occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground should have 
been furnished for characterizing parties by Geographical discrim- 
inations — Northern and Southern — Atlantic and Western; whence 
designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real 
difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of 



170 TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 

chap. t h e p ar fy i acquire influence, within particular districts, is to 
misrepresent the opinions & aims of other Districts. You cannot 
shield yourselves too much against the jealousies & heart burnings 
which spring from these misrepresentations. They tend to render 
alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by frater- 
nal affection. . . . 

To the efficacy and permanency of Your Union, a Government 
for the whole is indispensible. No Alliance however strict between 
the parts can be adequate substitute. They must inevitably experi- 
ence the infractions & interruptions which all Alliances in all times 
have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have 
improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a Constitution 
of Government, better calculated than your former for an intimate 
Union, and for the efficacious management of your common con- 
cerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice unin- 
fluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation & mature 
deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of 
its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within 
itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your 
confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance 
with its Laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by 
the fundamental maxims of true Liberty. The basis of our political 
systems is the right of the people to make and alter their Constitu- 
tions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time 
exists, 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole 
People, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the 
power and the right of the People to establish Government pre- 
supposes the duty of every Individual to obey the established Gov- 
ernment. . . . 

I have already intimated to you the danger of Parties in the State, 
with particular reference to the founding of them on Geographical 
discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, & 
warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of 
the Spirit of Party, generally. 

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseperable from our human nature, 
having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It 
exists under different shapes in all Governments, more or less stifled, 
controuled, or repressed ; but in those of the popular form it is seen 
in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy. 

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened 
by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissention, which in differ- 
ent ages & countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is 
itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more 



THE CLOSE OF WASHINGTON'S PRESIDENCY 171 

formal and permanent despotism. The disorders & miseries, which ™ AP - 

result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security & repose 

in the absolute powers of an Individual : and sooner or later the 
chief of some prevailing faction more able or more fortunate than 
his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own 
elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty. . . . 

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free 
Country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its adminis- 
tration, to confine themselves within their respective Constitutional 
spheres ; avoiding in the exercise of the Powers of one department 
to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to 
consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to 
create under whatever the form of government a real despotism. 
A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, 
which predominates in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us 
of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in 
the exercise of political power; by dividing and distributing it into 
different depositories, & constituting each the Guardian of the 
Public Weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by 
experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country & 
under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as 
to institute them. If in the opinion of the People, the distribution 
or modification of the Constitutional powers be in any particular 
wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the 
Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpa- 
tion. . . . 

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political pros- 
perity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain 
would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labour 
to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest 
props of the duties of Men & Citizens. The mere Politician, equally 
with the pious man ought to respect & to cherish them. A volume 
could not trace all their connections with private & public felicity. 
Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for repu- 
tation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, 
which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? 
And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can 
be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the 
influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure — 
reason & experience both forbid us to expect that national morality 
can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. 

'T is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary 
spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more 



172 TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 

chap. or j ess f orce to every species of Free Government. Who that is a 

sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to 

shake the foundation of the fabric. 

Promote then as an object of primary importance, Institutions 
for the diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a 
government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public 
opinion should be enlightened. 

As a very important source of strength & security, cherish public 
credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as 
possible : avoiding occasions of expence by cultivating peace, but 
remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger 
frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it — avoid- 
ing likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occa- 
sions of expence, but by vigorous exertions in time of Peace to 
discharge the Debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, 
not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen which we 
ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to 
your Representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should 
cooperate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it 
is essential that you should practically bear in mind, that towards 
the payment of debts there must be Revenue — that to have Revenue 
there must be taxes. . . . 

A passionate attachment of one Nation for another produces a 
variety of evils. Sympathy for the favourite nation, facilitating the 
illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real 
common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the 
other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels & 
Wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justification: 
It leads also to concessions to the favorite Nation of priviledges 
denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the Nation making 
the concessions — by necessarily parting with what ought to have 
been retained — by exciting jealousy, ill will, and a disposition to 
retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are with- 
held. . . . 

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attach- 
ments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and inde- 
pendent Patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper 
with domestic factions, or practice the arts of seduction, to mislead 
public opinion, to influence or awe the public Councils! Such an 
attachment of a small or weak, towards a great & powerful Nation, 
dooms the former to be satellite of the latter. 

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, (I conjure you 
to believe me fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to 



THE CLOSE OF WASHINGTON'S PRESIDENCY 173 

be constantly awake ; since history and experience prove that foreign 9? AP - 

influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Govern- 

ment. . . . 

The Great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign Nations is 
in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little 
political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed 
engagements let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here 
let us stop. 

Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or 
a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent 
controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our con- 
cerns. Hence therefore it must be unwise to us to implicate our- 
selves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, 
or the ordinary combinations & colisions of her friendships, or 
enmities : 

Our detached & distant situation invites and enables us to pursue 
a different course. If we remain one People, under an efficient 
government, the period is not far off, when we may defy material 
injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an atti- 
tude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon 
to be scrupulously respected ; when beligerent nations, under the 
impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard 
the giving us provocation ; when we may choose peace or war, as 
our interest guided by justice shall counsel. 

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why 
quit our own to stand on foreign ground? Why, by interweaving 
our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace 
and prosperity in the toils of European Ambition, Rivalship, 
Interest, Humour, or Caprice? 

'T is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances, with 
any portion of the foreign world — So far I mean, as we are now at 
liberty to do it — for let me not be understood as capable of patron- 
ising infidelity to existing engagements, (I hold the maxim no less 
applicable to public than to private affairs that honesty is always 
the best policy). I repeat it therefore, let those engagements be 
observed in their genuine sense. But in my opinion, it is unneces- 
sary and would be unwise to extend them. 

Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, 
on a respectably defensive posture, we may safely trust to tem- 
porary allowances for extraordinary emergencies. 

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all Nations, are recommended 
by policy, humanity and interest. But even our commercial policy 
should hold an equal and impartial hand: neither seeking nor 



174 TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 

chap. granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural 

course of things; diffusing & deversifying by gentle means the 

streams of Commerce, but forcing nothing ; establishing with Powers 
so disposed — in order to give to trade a stable course, to define 
the rights of our Merchants, and to enable the Government to sup- 
port them — conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present 
circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, & 
liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience 
and circumstances shall dictate ; constantly keeping in view that 
't is folly in one Nation to look for disinterested favors from another 
— that it must pay with a portion of its Independence for whatever 
it may accept under that character — that by such acceptance, it 
may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for 
nominal favours and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for 
not giving more — There can be no greater error than to expect, 
or calculate upon real favours from Nation to Nation. 'T is an 
illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to 
discard. . . . 

G : Washington 
United States 



19. th September r] 

John By the withdrawal of Washington, the Presidency was for the 

first time thrown open to the rivalry of candidates. The election 
of 1796, therefore, was the first of that series of Presidential con- 
tests which has always been such a prominent feature in American 
life. The Federalists had several candidates, of whom the chief 
aspirants were John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. 
The Republicans centered their forces upon Thomas Jefferson. 
The result of the election was determined in the manner prescribed 
by the Constitution as it then stood: each Presidential elector 
voted for two men, and the one who received the largest number 
of votes was declared President, while the one who received the 
next highest was declared Vice-President. In accordance with this 
provision each of the 138 electors wrote upon his ballot the names 
of two men both of whom in the eyes of the law were candidates, 
for every man voted for by an elector was eligible for election as 
President. When the electoral vote of 1796 was counted it was 
found that John Adams stood highest with seventy-one votes and 
that Thomas Jefferson stood second with sixty-eight votes. Adams, 
therefore, was declared President and Jefferson Vice-President. 
Two things were brought out clearly by the election of 1796. 



J 



"ADAMS AND LIBERTY" 175 

First, it was proved that the electoral system provided by the £hap. 

Constitution was an awkward one, for under it it was possible for 

the candidate of one political party to be chosen President while the 
leader of another party was chosen Vice-President. Secondly, the 
election showed that party division had followed geographical 
lines : every Southern State except Maryland was Republican, while 
every Northern State was Federalist. 

"Adams and Liberty" 

In his inaugural address Adams promised to deal impartially Adams 
and fairly with all sections and parties, to do justice to all nations, cabinet 
and to maintain peace and friendship with all the world. He 
desired in the main to carry forward the policies of his predecessor. 
To this end he retained Washington's cabinet in office. In doing 
this he made a grave political error, for a more unsuitable set of 
co-workers could not have been selected. "They were," says 
Schouler, "men without a public following, borrowing their sole 
lustre from "Washington's radiance; the two most conspicuous of 
them [Timothy Pickering and Oliver Wolcott] from the same 
section of the country as Adams himself; and the majority at least 
led by all antecedents to look to Hamilton for inspiration, regard- 
ing the new President not as one to whom they owed their place 
and whom they must faithfully serve. And Hamilton, their 
inspirer, was the one of all in the party whom Adams especially 
disliked." 

The most urgent matter awaiting the new administration was T ™ u ^ le 

n D with France 

that of our French relations, for Adams inherited from his prede- 
cessor the policy of neutrality and along with it a legacy of trouble 
with France. The Jay Treaty had deeply offended the French 
people, who construed it as unfriendly to their country in the 
highest degree. But the French did not blame the American 
people; they blamed the American Government. They felt that 
the masses in the United States were on their side, and they did all 
they could to create division and dissension between the American 
people and their constituted authorities. As soon as Jay's Treaty 
was signed the French republic began to show its displeasure by 
measures of retaliation. American vessels were captured by French 
cruisers. The American minister to France was sent out of the 
country, and a message was sent to Adams informing him that the 



176 



TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 



CHAP. 
IX 



Strengthen- 
ing tlie 
National 
Defense 



"Millions 
for 

Defense ; 
Not One 
Cent for 
Tribute" 



French Government would have nothing further to do with the 
United States until the grievances of France were redressed. 

Believing that the severance of diplomatic relations would lead 
to war, President Adams convened Congress in special session in 
order that provision might be made for organizing an army and 
for defending the coast. In the Senate, where the Federalists had 
a decided majority, there was a strong anti-French sentiment, but 
in the House, where the Federalist majority was "inconstant and 
equivocal," the anti-British party held the balance of power. A 
Congress thus divided was not likely to enter heartily upon any 
fixed course of action. The President's wishes, however, were 
acceded to in part. A bill was passed to complete and man three 
new frigates, provision was made for coast defense, and it was 
enacted that 80,000 militia should be ready to march at a moment 's 
warning. Congress did not desire war : the longer it remained in 
session and the more it considered the European situation the more 
was it convinced of the wisdom of neutrality. 

President Adams did not wish war any more than Congress did, 
and he was as desirous of neutrality as Washington had been. 
With the hope of healing the breach through treaty arrangements 
he despatched as envoys to France Charles C. Pinckney, Elbridge 
Gerry, and John Marshall, but these envoys found that honorable 
and honest negotiation with the French Government was impos- 
sible. They were met at Paris by three unofficial agents of the 
Directory — the governing body of France — and were informed 
that before a treaty could be made the United States would have to 
lend a large sum of money to the French Government to enable it 
to carry on the war against England, and that a considerable sum 
— about $240,000 — by way of a douceur, another word for bribe, 
would have to be given to the members of the Directory. 1 The 
envoys, who regarded these overtures as an insult, rejected them 
flatly. As for lending the money, they said they had not been 
authorized by their Government to contract loans; as for the 
douceur, they would not give a sixpence. One of them, Charles 
Pinckney, was said to have declared, "Millions for defense, but 
not one cent for tribute," words soon to be taken up in the United 



1 The names of the French agents who dealt with the envoys were known in 
the diplomatic records as X, Y, and Z; and for this reason the incident was 
called the X Y Z Affair. The names of the agents were Hottingeur (X), 
Bellamy (Y), and Hauteval (Z). 



"ADAMS AND LIBERTY" 177 

States and made a popular slogan. In their desire to restore ™ AP - 

amicable relations between the two countries the envoys ignored 

the insults offered by the unofficial agents and made strenuous 
efforts to effect an accommodation ; but in vain. They were unable 
to secure even so much as a direct official interview with the French 
Government. 

When Adams heard of the insulting manner in which the Ameri- RehltSns 10 
can envoys had been treated he declared the negotiations at an end. Severed 
"I will never," he said, "send another minister to France without 
assurances that he will be received, respected, and honored as the 
representative of a great, free, powerful, and independent nation." 
The report of the envoys aroused much bitterness of feeling through- 
out the United States, and there went up a clamor for a war with 
France. "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute," was 
everywhere the cry. From all parts of the Union addresses poured 
in upon the President assuring him that the people were ready to 
go to any length in their support of the Government. Congress, 
although it was now wholly controlled by the Federalists, was 
still unwilling to declare war. Nevertheless, the bronze doors of 
strife were forced open and measure after measure tending to war 
went rapidly through both branches. Merchant vessels were author- 
ized to arm and repel attacks. A Navy Department was created, a 
new regiment was added to the country 's little regular army, and 
ten thousand volunteers were enlisted for a term of three years. 
Adams encouraged the war spirit, and for a while he tasted the 
sweets of popularity. "Since man was created and government 
formed," wrote Robert Troup, "no public officer has stood higher 
in the confidence and affection of his countrymen than the Presi- 
dent now does. ' ' 

But the trouble with France was soon to be adjusted. When the £j?£j rench 
Directory was apprised of the warlike attitude of the United States 
it changed its policy. It expressed its eagerness to preserve peace ; 
it issued circulars forbidding the further capture of American 
vessels; it released American seamen. In 1799 the French Govern- 
ment expressed its willingness to receive any diplomatic represen- 
tation the United States might send to France, promising that such 
representation would be treated with the respect due to a great 
nation. Adams, unwilling to go further for a mere point of eti- 
quette, took France at its word. He sent envoys to Paris ; and in 
September, 1800, a treaty was entered into by which peaceful 



178 



TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 



CHAP. 
IX 



relations between the two countries were restored and stipulations 
for the better protection of American commerce were made. The 
treaty was very unpopular with the war party, and it brought upon 
the President a storm of censure and abuse. Yet it is the verdict 
of history that Adams acted wisely, for just as Jay's Treaty kept 
us from throwing ourselves into the arms of France, so this treaty 
with France in 1800 kept us from throwing ourselves into the arms 
of England. The two nations could continue their struggle, but 
the United States would pursue a neutral course. 



Naturaliza- 
tion 



The Alien 
Act 



The 

Sedition 

Act 



Repressive War Measures 

During the excitement caused by the unfriendly conduct of 
France the Federalists passed three repressive measures designed 
to hold in check disloyal aliens and to stifle disloyal utterances. 
The first of these was a new Naturalization Act. In 1795 a Natu- 
ralization Act had been passed enabling an alien to become a citizen 
after five years' residence in the United States. The new law of 
1798 prolonged the term of residence to fourteen years, and placed 
all white aliens who resided or might thereafter reside in the United 
States under a system of surveillance, by requiring them to be 
reported and registered. Some of the members of Congress were 
for doing away with naturalization altogether. Citizenship, how- 
ever, was denied outright only to alien enemies. 

Far more drastic than the Naturalization Act was the so-called 
Alien Act. This bestowed upon the President the power to order 
all such aliens as he should judge dangerous to the peace and safety 
of the United States, or should have reasonable ground to believe 
were concerned in any treasonable or secret machinations against 
the Government thereof, to leave the United States within such 
time as he might direct. If any alien thus ordered to depart should 
refuse, he was to be imprisoned for not more than three years. If 
he obeyed the order and then returned, he was to be imprisoned at 
the will of the President. 

The Alien Act was quickly followed by the Sedition Act, a statute 
which one hundred and twenty years later was drawn upon in the 
framing of espionage laws during the war with Germany. The 
Sedition Act of 1798 imposed a heavy fine upon any person con- 
spiring to oppose any measure of government, and upon any person 
publishing any false or scandalous or malicious writings against 
the National Government, Congress, or the President. 



FEDERALIST PARTY ON A DOWNWARD COURSE 179 

The chief purpose of the Federalists in passing the Alien and jx AP " 
Sedition acts was to frustrate the plans and silence the tongues of 
those who sympathized with France and criticized the President j^ 1 " 06 " 
for his action in regard to French affairs. The Alien Law enforced 
itself: the persons against whom it was directed took alarm and 
fled, and Adams did not deport a single man. But the Sedition 
Law was enforced, and a number of persons were found guilty of 
violating its provisions. Matthew Lyon, "an excitable little 
Hibernian" from Vermont, wrote a letter to a newspaper charging 
President Adams with "continual grasp for power and unbounded 
thirst for ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation, and selfish avarice." 
He was fined one thousand dollars and sentenced to imprisonment 
for four months. He served his term in jail and paid his fine: 
many years later, however, Congress refunded the fine with in- 
terest. Thomas Cooper, "a learned, ingenious, scientific, and tal- 
ented madcap, ' ' was imprisoned six months and fined four hundred 
dollars for animadverting too freely upon the administration. 
Altogether ten persons, all of them Republicans, were convicted 
under the Sedition Act. 

The Federalist Party on a Downward Course 

The Alien and Sedition acts proved to be among the most un- 
popular measures ever passed by the American Congress. They 
were declared by Jefferson to be "an experiment on the American 
mind to see how far it will bear an avowed violation of the Con- 
stitution." Hamilton himself saw that the repressive measures 
overshot the mark, and begged the Federalists not to establish a 
tyranny. "Energy," he said, "is one thing; violence is another." 
But disregarding their great leader's advice they chose the violent 
course, with the result that the Federalist party was started on 
the downward path to ruin. 

Since the Alien and Sedition acts were aimed at Republicans A^en'ond* 16 
the immediate effect of the obnoxious laws was to elicit violent icta tlon 
protests from the leaders of the Republican party. In Republican 
circles the measures were everywhere denounced on the ground 
that Congress was forbidden by the Constitution to pass laws inter- 
fering with freedom of speech or personal liberty. "Of the Sedi- 
tion Law," Jefferson wrote, "I consider that law to be a nullity, 
as absolute and as palpable as if Congress had ordered us to fall 



180 



TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 



CHAP. 
IX 



The 

Kentucky 
Resolutions 



The 

Election of 
Thomas 
Jefferson 



down and worship a golden image; and that it was as much my 
duty to arrest its execution in every stage as it would have been 
to have rescued from the fiery furnace those who should have been 
cast into it for refusing to worship their image." The most sig- 
nificant protests were those made by the legislatures of Kentucky 
and Virginia. In November, 1798, the legislature of Kentucky 
passed the famous Kentucky Resolutions, drawn up by the hand 
of Jefferson, declaring that the Alien and Sedition laws were con- 
trary to the Constitution, and that it was the duty of the States 
to combine and refuse obedience to the two oppressive statutes. 
The next month resolutions of the same nature drawn up by James 
Madison were adopted by the legislature of Virginia. The Ken- 
tucky and Virginia resolutions were sent to the other States for 
consideration. Of the seven States that replied all objected to the 
resolutions. The effect upon the country at large must, therefore, 
have been a source of great disappointment to their authors and 
promoters. But the effect upon the course of American politics 
was profound and durable ; for the hidden meaning of the resolu- 
tions was that if the States desired they could by combined action 
"nullify" or set aside a law of Congress, a doctrine which was 
to be urged again and again both at the North and at the South, 
and which was to bring upon the country a long train of evils. 

Although the Alien and Sedition laws were by express provision 
to expire in 1800 and 1801 respectively, and although in reality 
they had been applied in a very small number of cases they had, 
nevertheless, led the people to believe that their liberties were in 
jeopardy. This irritation of the public mind produced a condition 
which in the Presidential election of 1800 was entirely favorable 
to the Republican party. In that year Jefferson was unanimously 
nominated by the Congressional caucus for President, the candi- 
date for Vice-President being Aaron Burr of New York. The 
Federalist candidates for President and Vice-President were John 
Adams and C. C. Pinckney of South Carolina. The campaign was 
strangely simple and quiet when compared with the contests of 
to-day. There were no party platforms and no public acceptance 
of the candidacy by the nominees. Jefferson spent the entire sum- 
mer of 1800 in close retirement attending to the conduct of his farm. 
Between May and the time for the choosing the electors in No- 
vember he wrote but three letters. When the electoral vote was 
counted it was found that Jefferson and Burr had each received 




FEDERALIST PARTY ON A DOWNWARD COURSE 181 

seventy-three votes and Adams sixty-five. Here was a troublesome £h ap. 

complication, for the Constitution provided that where two persons 

had the votes of a majority of the whole number of electors and 
at the same time an equal number of votes, then the House of Rep- 
resentatives should choose one of them for President, the vote in 
such cases being taken by States, the representative of each State 
casting one vote. The election, therefore, had to be taken to the 
House of Representatives, where the contest lay between Burr and 
Jefferson. A caucus of the Federalist members of the House of 
Representatives by a decided majority pledged the support of the 



The United States in 1800 



party to Burr. But this step was taken in opposition to Hamilton 's 
wishes : to his eternal honor Jefferson 's great rival refused to coun- 
tenance a scheme to defeat the will of the people. Bitter as was 
his hate and deep as was his distrust of Jefferson, Hamilton was 
ready to subordinate private considerations to the public good. 
Believing that the country would be safer in Jefferson 's hands than 
in Burr's, he wrote letter after letter to his friends in Congress 
entreating them to vote for Jefferson. On February 11, 1801, the 
balloting for President began in the House. On the first ballot 
eight States voted for Jefferson and six for Burr, the votes of two 
States being divided. Balloting continued without a choice until 
February 17, when in the thirty-sixth ballot ten States voted for 



182 TROUBLE ABROAD AND AT HOME 

ix AP * Jefferson and four for Burr. Thomas Jefferson was thus elected 

President and Aaron Burr Vice-President. 1 

If he th V e° rk With the defeat of Adams the National Government passed out 

Federalist f f^g hands of the Federalist party into the hands of the Repub- 
licans. The scepter of power was never regained by the Federal- 
ists: they never fully recovered from the defeat of 1800. Yet the 
Federalist party during the twelve years of its existence accom- 
plished a noble work. "It had found the country with only the 
shadow of a government," says J. P. Gordy; "it had created one 
with power enough to provide for the needs of the nation. It had 
converted the lifeless letter of the Constitution into a living system 
of government. It had touched the dead corpse of public credit 
and it sprang into life. It had kept the country in the straight 
and narrow path of neutrality when to depart from it would have 
been fatal to the young government. But its work was done." 

Suggested Readings 

Second administration of George Washington : Schouler, Vol. I, pp. 238-362. 

Kentucky and Virginia resolutions : McElroy, pp. 211-264. 

Administration of John Adams : Schouler, Vol. I, pp. 354—446. 

Jay's Treaty : McMaster, Vol. II, 212-229 ; Gordy, Vol. I, pp. 239-264. 

Industrial revolution : Van Metre, pp. 195-199 ; Bogart, pp. 140-163. 

Social life in the United States in 1800: Channing, Vol. IV, pp. 1-8; 

McMaster, Vol. II, pp. 538-582. 
Downfall of Federalism : Schouler, Vol. I, pp. 510-514. 
French Revolution : Robinson and Beard, Vol. I, pp. 224-247 ; Gordy, Vol. I, 

pp. 159-199. 
John Adams : Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 43-53. 
Internal conditions; 1795-1819: Van Metre, pp. 222-251. 

1 With the view of preventing such disputes as arose at this time, the adop 
tion of the Twelfth Amendment was secured in 1804. By this amendment the 
election of the President is made entirely distinct from the election of the 
Vice-President. 



X 

JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY 

Jefferson's Inauguration 

IT was a striking coincidence that the inauguration of Jefferson, 
marking as it did the beginning of a new era in the political 
life of the nation, should be the first one to occur in the new home 
of the Government on the banks of the Potomac. The removal of 
the Federal offices from Philadelphia to Washington had taken 
place in June, 1800 ; and Congress had met there for the first time 
in December of that year. 

The city which is now the pride of the nation was in 1800 a 
mere village. The President's home, the White House, was in an 
open field and was hardly fit for occupancy. The unfinished Capi- 
tol stood in a forest, and the streets were nothing more than roads 
cut through the woods. On what is now Pennsylvania Avenue 
boys were still shooting partridges and squirrels. The famous 
avenue itself was scarcely more than a footway through bushes 
and briers. From the site of the Capitol it was possible to look 
over the country for miles and see only a few lime-kilns, a few huts 
of laborers, and long stretches of forest. There were no good 
hotels in Washington, the streets were unpaved, and most of the 
conveniences and comforts of life were lacking. It is said that 
upon one occasion President Jefferson could not obtain for love 
or money a man to cut wood to burn in the fireplaces of the White 
House. 

These primitive surroundings were not distasteful to the newly- 
elected President, and the ceremonies of his inauguration were in 
perfect harmony with the environment. A half royal dignity had 
characterized the inaugurations of Washington and Adams. But 
in a forest village pomp and splendor were out of the question. 
Jefferson, therefore, of necessity was inducted into office in a plain 
and simple manner, just as he desired to be. "He came," said 
a British diplomat then residing in Washington, "from his own 
lodgings to the House where the Congress convenes and which 

183 



184 



JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY 



CHAP. 
X 



The 

Inaugural 

Address 



goes by the name of the Capitol, on foot, in his ordinary dress, 
escorted by a body of militia artillery from the neighboring State, 
and accompanied by the Secretaries of the Navy and Treasury and 
a number of his political friends in the House of Representatives. 
He was received by Mr. Burr, the Vice-President, — who was pre- 
viously admitted to the chair of the Senate — and was afterward 
complimented at his own lodgings by the very few foreign agents 
who reside at this place, by the members of Congress, and other 
public officials." Thus while the inauguration was a simple affair 
it was attended by as much ceremony and form as were in keeping 
with the character of the surroundings. 

Jefferson felt — and he was justified in so feeling — that he was 
the leader of a great movement in popular government. In his 
inaugural address he gave a complete summary of his political 
faith and in compact and incisive fashion stated the principles of 
the policy he meant to pursue. The address took its place as a 
state paper which for a long time was almost as well known as the 
Constitution itself. Its text, with slight and unimportant omis- 
sions, is as follows : 



JEFFERSON'S FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 



Friends and Fellow-Citizens : . . . 

During the contest of opinion through which we have passed, the 
animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an 
aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely, 
and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now 
decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules 
of the Constitution, all will of course arrange themselves under 
the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common 
good. All too will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though 
the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be 
rightful, must be reasonable ; that the minority possess their equal 
rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate which would 
be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart 
and one mind, let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and 
affection without which liberty, and even life itself, are but dreary 
things. And let us reflect, that having banished from our land that 
religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and 
suffered, we have yet gained little, if we countenance a political 
intolerance, as despotic as wicked, and capable of as bitter and 









JEFFERSON'S INAUGURATION 185 

bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the £ HAP 

ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seek- 

ing through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not 
wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this 
distant and peaceful shore ; that this should be felt and feared by 
some, and less by others ; and should divide opinions as to measures 
of safety; but every difference of opinion is not a difference of 
principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same 
principle. We are all Republicans ; we are all Federalists. If there 
be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union, or to change 
its Republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of 
the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where 
reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest 
men fear that a Republican government cannot be strong ; that this 
government is not strong enough. But would the honest patriot, 
in the full tide of successful experience, abandon a government 
which has so far kept us free and firm, on the theoretic and vision- 
ary fear, that this government, the world's best hope, may, by 
possibility, want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I believe 
this, on the contrary, the strongest government on earth. I believe 
it the only one, where every man, at the call of the law, would fly 
to the standard of the law, and would meet the invasions of the 
public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said, 
that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can 
he then be trusted with the government of others? Or, have we 
found angels in the form of kings, to govern him? Let history 
answer this question. 

Let us, then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own 
Federal and Republican principles ; our attachment to union and 
representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a 
wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one-quarter of the 
globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; 
possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants 
to the thousandth and thousandth generation ; entertaining a due 
sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acqui- 
sition of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow- 
citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and our 
sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed indeed 
and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, 
truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man ; acknowledging 
and adoring an overruling Providence, which, by all its dispensa- 
tions, proves that it delights in the happiness of man here, and his 
greater happiness hereafter; with all these blessings, what more is 



186 JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY 

chap. necessary to make us a happy and prosperous nation? Still one 

thing more, fellow-citizens, a wise and frugal government which 

shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them 
free to regulate their own pursuit of industry and improvement, 
and shall not take from the mouth the bread it has earned. This 
is the sum of good government; and this is necessary to close the 
circle of our felicities. 

About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which 
comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you 
should understand what I deem the essential principles of our 
government, and consequently, those which ought to shape its 
administration. I shall compress them within the narrowest com- 
pass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its 
limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state 
or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest 
friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the 
support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most 
competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and the surest 
bulwarks against anti-Republican tendencies; the preservation of 
the general government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the 
sheet-anchor of our peace at home, and safety abroad ; a jealous care 
of the right of election by the people, a mild and safe corrective 
of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peace- 
able remedies are unprovided ; absolute acquiescence in the decisions 
of the majority, the vital principle of the republics, from which 
there is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate 
parent of despotism ; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in 
peace, and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve 
them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; 
economy in the public expense, that labor might be lightly bur- 
dened; the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation 
of the public faith ; encouragement of agriculture, and of com- 
merce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information, and arraign- 
ment of all abuses at the bar of public reason ; freedom of religion ; 
freedom of the press ; and freedom of person, under the protection 
of the habeas corpus ; and trial by juries impartially selected. 
These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before 
us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reforma- 
tion. The wisdom of our sages, and blood of our heroes, have been 
devoted to their attainment; they should be the creed of our 
political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which 
to try the services of those we trust ; and should we wander from 
them in moments of error or alarm, let us hasten to retrace our 



CHAP. 
X 



ORGANIZATION AND MEASURES 187 

steps, and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and 
safety. . . . 

Organization and Measures 

To aid him in carrying his political theories into effect Jefferson cabinet" s 
surrounded himself with sympathetic advisers. In forming his 
cabinet he chose men of his own political faith. As head of two 
of the great departments he selected at once James Madison as 
secretary of state and Henry Dearborn of Massachusetts as secre- 
tary of war. In a short time Albert Gallatin of Pennsylvania was 
chosen secretary of the treasury. A secretary of the navy was so 
hard to find that at one time Jefferson thought he would have to 
advertise in the newspapers for a man. Finally, however, Robert 
Smith of Maryland accepted the place. Levi Lincoln of Massa- 
chusetts was chosen attorney-general. Dearborn, Smith, and Lin- 
coln in talents were hardly above the grade of respectable medioc- 
rity, but Madison and Gallatin were masterful leaders. Next to 
Jefferson himself, Madison was the ablest member of the Republican 
party, while Gallatin was one of the greatest financiers of the age. 
Notwithstanding the great abilities of the new President, the new 
secretary of state, and the new secretary of the treasury, they were 
regarded by Federalists as dangerous men. In 1796 Oliver Wolcott 
said : ' ' The influence of Gallatin, Madison, and Jefferson must be 
diminished or the public affairs will be brought to a standstill." 
Yet five years later these three men assumed control of the Gov- 
ernment and for eight years they ruled the country. 

With these cabinet officers Jefferson conferred freely. Under Counsel 
our system the cabinet has no real power and no constitutioiial ^bin^t 8 
function. The President is not bound to follow the advice of his 
ministers nor is he under any positive injunction to ask or require 
their advice. But Jefferson habitually took counsel with his cabinet 
and relied quite implicitly upon its decisions. When a question 
came up of sufficient magnitude to require the opinions of the 
heads of departments he called them together, had the subject dis- 
cussed, and when a vote was taken counted himself but one. The 
result of this method was to clothe the cabinet with considerable 
power; in fact, with more power than was pleasing to the Feder- 
alists. Josiah Quincy in 1813 said on the floor of Congress: "It 
is a curious fact that for these twelve years past the affairs of this 
country have been managed and its fortunes reversed under the 



188 .JHFPUKSONIAN DEMOCRACY 



I II M 

X 



influence of a Cabinet liille less Hum despotic, composed to all 
efficient purposes of two Virginians and a foreigner | < Jallatin] . 
During the whole period the measures distinctly recommended have 
been adopted hy the two Houses of Congress with as much uni- 
formity and wiili as little modification, too, as the measures of the 
British have been adopted during the same period by the British 
Parliament." 
Patronage More annoying than the lask of forming a cabinet was the duty 
of making appointments to the inferior offices. At the close of 

the Presidency Of Adams nearly all the offices were in the hands 

of the Federalists. Jefferson determined that this monopoly should 

not continue. He contended tluit the majority which had just 
ridden info power should participate in the Federal patronage as 
a matter of right. "But how," he asked, "are vacancies to be 
obtained? Those by death are few, hy resignation none. Can any 
other mode than that of removal he proposed? It, would have been 
to me a circums1;iiice of great relict' had I found a moderate par- 
ticipation of office in the hands of the minority. I would gladly 
have left time and accident to raise them to their just share. But 
their total exclusion calls for prompt con-eel ion. I shall correct 
tin- procedure; hut that, done, return with joy to that state of things 
where the only question concerning a candidate shall he, is lie 

honest .' is he capable? is he faithful to the Constitution?" Jeffer- 
son aimed to swing the ax with moderation and justice, vet hy the 
time he was through a great many heads had fallen. Within two 
years after his inauguration only 130 offices subject to his appoint- 
ment out of a total of .'SKI were held by Federalists. 

A Written When in December, L801, the lime came for -Jefferson to com- 

Ueenge ... 

municate with ( ongress, he sent a written message to that hody 

instead of appearing in pin-son as his predecessors had done. Dur- 
ing the administrations of Washington and Adams the communica- 
tions of the President with Congress had heen attended hy a great 
deal of ceremony. There had heen a cavalcade, an oration by 
the President, a procession of the members of Congress, and an 

address of reply. The reasons given hy Jefferson for abolishing 

the old ceremony were the convenience of ('ongress, the economy 
of their time, and his desire to relieve them from the emharrassment 
of making replies to questions relating to matters not yet fully 
before them. His method was regarded as in keeping with Repub- 
lican simplicity and the example set by him was followed hy his 



ORGANIZATION AND MEASURES 189 

successors until President Wilson in 1913 reverted to the practice chap. 
of appearing before Congress in person. 

In his first message Jefferson, passing lightly over foreign mat- 
ters, for these at the particular moment happened to be in a fairly 
satisfactory condition, dwelt mainly upon subjects of domestic 
administration. He asked the repeal of the unpopular internal 
taxes which he detested as tyrannous; he recommended the pay- 
ment of the public debt and a retrenchment in Federal ex- 
penditures; he urged the enactment of a more favorable law of 
naturalization, asking the question, ' ' Shall oppressed humanity find 
no asylum on this globe?" and suggested that a revision of the 
judiciary system might be found to be desirable. 

Since the Republicans had a good working majority in both Measu^ 1 *" 
branches of Congress, most of the legislation proposed by Jefferson 
was enacted. The hateful whisky tax 1 was repealed and customs 
duties were left as the principal source of revenue. Provision was 
made for a rapid reduction of the national debt, and the budget 
of the Federal Government was greatly reduced, the net ordinary 
expenses of nearly $7,500,000 for 1800 being brought down to less 
than $5,000,000 for 1801. In making this retrenchment — and it 
was not easy to make — Jefferson set the rare example of living up 
to his pretensions. The recommendation for a more favorable 
naturalization law was acted upon, and the term of residence re- 
quired before an alien could become a citizen was shortened from 
fourteen years to five. The chief struggle in Congress was over 
the revision of the Judiciary Act. In the very last days of the 
administration of Adams Congress had reorganized the Federal 
judiciary, providing for the appointment of sixteen additional 
Federal judges. These judges, all of them Federalists, were ap- 
pointed by Adams in the closing hours of his term. Jefferson's 
heart was set upon unseating the new judges; for he regarded them 
as useless, and he felt, besides, that Adams ought to have left their 
appointment to the incoming President. The debate in Congress 
over the repeal of the Judiciary Act was long and bitter, but in 
the end Jefferson had his way : the act creating the new federal 
courts was repealed, and with the repeal the judges lost their 
places. At this session of Congress also a new copyright law was 
passed, a Congressional library was established, and provision was 
made for the establishment of a military academy at West Point. 

1 See p. 159. 



190 



JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY 



CHAP. 
X 



These measures received the approbation of the people and were 
to Jefferson a source of satisfaction and pride. "The session of 
the first Congress convened since Republicanism has recovered its 
ascendency is now drawing to a close, ' ' he wrote. ' ' They will com- 
pletely fulfil all the desires of the people. They have reduced the 
army and navy to what is barely necessary. They are disarming 
Executive patronage and preponderance by putting down one-half 
the offices of the United States, which are no longer necessary. 
They have lopped off a parasite limb, planted by their predecessors 
on the judiciary body for party purposes; they are opening the 
door of hospitality to agitators from the oppression of other coun- 
tries ; and we have suppressed all these public forms and ceremonies 
which tended to familiarize the public eye to the harbingers of 
another form of government." 



The Tripolitan War 



Peace Was 
His Passion 



At the opening of Jefferson 's administration the foreign relations 
of the United States were in a more prosperous condition than 
they had been for many a day. Under the operations of Jay's 
Treaty our carrying trade was assuming vast proportions. The 
trouble with France had been allayed by the treaty recently negoti- 
ated by Adams. 1 The great powers of Europe were growing tired 
of the war which had been raging since 1793 and one by one were 
making peace with Napoleon. After the Peace of Luneville in 

1801, England was left alone to contend with France. In March, 

1802, even British hostilities were brought to a standstill by the 
Treaty of Amiens, and Europe had a respite from strife. 

Jefferson would have been delighted if Amiens had brought to 
Europe and to the world a lasting peace. For peace was his pas- 
sion. "It ought," he said, "to be supplicated from Heaven by the 
prayers of the whole world that at length there may be on earth 
peace and good will toward men." Preparation for war on a 
large scale was repugnant to Jefferson, and in his opinion was 
repugnant to the desires of the American people. "The spirit of 
this country," he said, "is totally adverse to a large military." 
Accordingly he reduced the regular army to the almost ridiculous 
size of 3,000 men, while the annual appropriation for the army and 
navy combined was reduced to less than $2,000,000. 

1 See p. 178. 



THE GREAT EXPANSION 191 

But in conducting the affairs of government statesmen are con- chap. 

fronted by conditions, not by theories. This fact Jefferson realized 

when he was called upon to deal with the pirates of the Mediter- The war 

- 1 x with 

ranean. For centuries it had been the custom of the little states Tripoli 
of northern Africa to plunder the commerce of any nation trading 
in the Mediterranean unless immunity was purchased by payment 
of tribute. Strange to say, many of the proud and powerful 
nations of Europe had found it more convenient to pay tribute than 
to fight. The United States at first followed the example of other 
nations, paying annually a sum of money for the sake of peace. 
Early in Jefferson's administration the pirates demanded an addi- 
tional sum for keeping the peace, pretending that the money that 
had been paid before was for making peace. This was carrying the 
exactions too far even for the peace-loving Jefferson, who after all 
was not for peace at any price. "When wrongs," he said, ''are 
pressed because it is believed they will be borne, resistance becomes 
morality." Abandoning his pacific policy Jefferson determined to 
fight rather than to pay the tribute. The little navy was strength- 
ened and sent in 1801 against Tripoli, the most offensive of the 
piratical states. The war, which was marked by many splendid 
deeds of courage on the part of the Americans, came to an end 
in 1804, when a treaty of peace was made which relieved American 
vessels from paying further tribute. 

The Great Expansion 

While Jefferson was defending our commerce against the pirates The closing 
in the far-off Mediterranean he was called upon to uphold the in- Mississippi 
terests of American trade nearer home. It will be remembered 
that by a treaty made in 1795 Spain had given the people of the 
West the right to land goods at New Orleans and transfer them to 
ocean-going vessels. 1 In flagrant violation of this treaty the Span- 
ish authorities in 1802 closed the navigation of the Mississippi to 
American citizens. This meant virtually that the industrial life 
of America west of the Alleghanies was at the mercy of the king 
of Spain. For Americans in the Ohio Valley could no longer take 
the products of their farms down to New Orleans and there sell 
them, as they had been accustomed to do. The closing of the Mis- 
sissippi, therefore, prevented the produce of about three eighths 

1 See p. 159. 



192 



JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY 



f'HAP. 
X 



The 

Cession of 
Louisiana 
to France 



Monroe and 
Livingston 



of our territory from finding a natural outlet. Indeed, without the 
Mississippi, Americans in the Ohio Valley would have no outlet 
at all, for as yet it was impracticable to carry heavy articles east- 
ward over the mountains to the seaboard cities. No wonder then 
that when the Western people heard what Spain had done they flew 
into a rage and threatened to march against New Orleans with 
their own troops if the Government at Washington did not come 
to their aid. 

They might have known that Jefferson would come to their aid, 
for no man in America was more keenly alive to the interests of 
the West. But the relief which was brought to them came in a 
way they did not expect. In 1800, six months before Jefferson was 
inaugurated, Spain, by the Treaty of San Ildefonso, had ceded 
Louisiana back to France. The retrocession was made in secret, 
and Jefferson did not hear of it until the summer of 1801. The 
execution of the treaty, however, moved very slowly. Jefferson 
was glad that it did move slowly, for delay gave him time to deal 
with the important question raised by the retrocession. He did not 
want France to have Louisiana. As long as a weak and exhausted 
nation like Spain held the country west of the Mississippi, the 
United States had little to fear; but if France, then powerful and 
aggressive, and dominated by the ambitious Napoleon, should take 
possession of Louisiana, Americans in the West might well be 
alarmed, for the design of Napoleon was to reestablish the French 
power and French institutions on the American continent as a 
counterpoise against Anglo-Saxon civilization. Jefferson was aware 
of Napoleon 's designs, and so strong was his opposition to the trans- 
fer that he determined to call upon England to aid in preventing 
the retrocession, if such a step should prove to be necessary. "The 
day that France takes possession of New Orleans," he wrote in 
1802, "fixes the sentence which is to retain her forever within her 
low-water mark. It seals the union of two nations [Great Britain 
and the United States] who in conjunction can maintain exclusive 
possession of the ocean. From the moment we must marry our- 
selves to the British fleet and nation." Jefferson could put heart 
into his plans for thwarting Napoleon, for he regarded the French 
ruler as an unprincipled tyrant and held him in utter detestation. 

The President was supported in his opposition to the retroces- 
sion by practically the entire nation, by Federalists as well as by 
Republicans. The Federalists were for immediate action, and for 



THE GREAT EXPANSION 193 

measures that would almost certainly lead to war with France, chap. 

Jefferson desired to accomplish his purposes through the peaceful 

agencies of diplomacy, for the essence of his statesmanship lay in 
peace. He meant that there should be no war with France, and he 
believed that the protracted negotiations between Spain and France 
were favorable to his plans. But the outrage of closing the navi- 
gation of the Mississippi accelerated the President's movements. 
When he heard that the Spanish intendant, who was still in control 
of Louisiana, had withdrawn the privilege of deposit at New 
Orleans, he hurried James Monroe off to Paris to assist the Ameri- 
can minister, Robert Livingston, in ' ' enlarging and more effectively 
securing our rights in the Mississippi and in the territory eastward 
thereof." Monroe and Livingston were instructed either to buy 
New Orleans and the Floridas outright, or, if such a purchase could 
not be made, to secure the right of deposit at New Orleans. But 
before Monroe reached Paris, England and France were again at 
war with each other, for the Treaty of Amiens was hardly more 
than a truce : ' ' the irritable ambitions of the two implacable rivals 
would not suffer either to rest upon a drawn victory." After the 
renewal of hostilities, Napoleon reluctantly relinquished his plans 
for American colonization. Fearing that Louisiana would fall into 
the hands of England, and needing more money to carry on his 
wars, he determined to sell Louisiana outright to the United States 
and directed his ministers to negotiate an immediate sale. 

Monroe and Livingston quickly made known their willingness purchase of 
to buy. They were without specific authority to make such a pur- Louisiana 
chase, yet they decided to assume the responsibility of going beyond 
their instructions. They entered into negotiations for a purchase, 
and after haggling for a week over the price they succeeded in 
April, 1803, in concluding a treaty by which France ceded to the 
United States the whole territory of Louisiana, "forever and in full 
sovereignty." The price paid for the province was $15,000,000, 
a sum that Gallatin was able to pay without calling upon Congress 
to levy an extra cent of taxation. 

In no other treaty made by our Government did the United States 
ever get so much for so little. Out of the area included in the pur- 
chase have been carved in their entirety the States of Louisiana, 
Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South 
Dakota, and parts of Minnesota, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, 
and Oklahoma. When Jefferson heard what Monroe and Living- 



194 



JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY 



CHAP. 
X 



Opposition 
to the 
Treaty 



ston had done his feelings must have been like those of the man 
who shot at a squirrel and brought down a bear. The President 
had intended to acquire only a few square miles of territory for 
the deposit of American goods. He had actually acquired a region 
containing nearly a million square miles, had doubled the area of 
the country, and had secured the control, not only of the Mississippi 
River, but of all the chief water system of North America. 

It was, indeed, a wonderful bargain, but the treaty did not 
escape opposition. It was opposed by the New England Federalists, 
because they were afraid there would be carved out of the new 




The United States After the Louisiana Purchase 

territory powerful States that would care nothing for the interests 
of the East. "The relative strength," said Uriah Tracy in the 
Senate, "which this admission gives to a Southern and Western 
interest is contradictory to the principles of our original Union. To 
admit Louisiana, a world — and such a world — into our Union would 
be absorbing the Northern States." Jefferson himself at first 
looked askance at the treaty, because he did not believe the Consti- 
tution gave Congress power to purchase territory. Nevertheless, 
he urged the ratification of the treaty, quieting his strict-construc- 
tion scruples by recommending that the Constitution be so amended 
as to give Congress explicit power to make territorial acquisition. 



THE FEDERALISTS IN DISTRESS 195 

In spite of constitutional difficulties the treaty was ratified, the x IIAP - 

dominant party allowing the magnitude of the interest at stake 

to overshadow all other considerations. 

It would be difficult to overestimate the importance which the 
great purchase had upon the course of America's history. "The 
annexation of Louisiana," says Henry Adams, "was an event so 
portentous as to defy measurement; it gave a new face to politics 
and ranked in historical importance next to the Declaration of 
Independence and the adoption of the Constitution, events of which 
it was the logical outcome; but as a matter of diplomacy it was 
unparalleled, because it cost almost nothing." 

The Federalists in Distress 

Even before this master-stroke of diplomacy was made, the Re- f° "the " y 
publicans were winning victories and gaining ground in many ii" 
parts of the country, but after the great expansion their power 
became irresistible. The popularity of Jeffersonian democracy was 
to the Federalists the cause of unutterable distress. In the tri- 
umphs of the Republicans the Federalist leaders saw not only the 
doom of their party but the ruin of the republic. In 1802 Samuel 
Chase, a judge of the Supreme Court and an aggressive Federalist, 
when making a charge to a grand jury at Baltimore, said: "The 
history of mankind in ancient and modern times informs us that a 
monarchy may be free and that a republic may be tyrannous. . . . 
The change in the State constitution [referring to Maryland] by ^° c f^ 
allowing universal suffrage will, in my opinion, certainly and 
rapidly destroy all protection to property and all security to per- 
sonal liberty ; and our republican constitution will sink into a 
mobocracy, the worst of all possible governments. The modern 
doctrines of our late reformers that all men in a state of society 
are entitled to enjoy equal liberty and equal rights have brought 
this mighty mischief upon us; and I fear it will rapidly progress 
until peace and order, freedom, and property, shall be destroyed." 

This direct and intemperate attack upon the principles of democ- ™® rthern 
racy, combined with other charges, led to the impeachment of confed- 
Chase by the House of Representatives. Although the impeach- 

; ment was not sustained by the Senate, the Federalists, neverthe- 
less, felt that it was the deliberate purpose of the Republicans to 

j destroy the Federal judiciary. On the very day that the House 



196 JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY 

chap. voted that Chase should be impeached, the Senate voted to sustain 

the impeachment of another Federal judge, John Pickering. The 

attack upon the judiciary — if it was an attack — filled the breasts 
of Federalist leaders with such dismay that some of them could 
find recourse only in desperate measures. A group of New England 
senators and representatives secretly undertook in a tentative way 
to form a ' ' Northern Confederacy, ' ' which was to include the New 
England States, New York and New Jersey. The chief hope of 
the incipient conspirators lay in New York, and in order to secure 
the adherence of that State they turned to Aaron Burr as their 
leader. But "this Mephistopheles of politics" disappointed them 
in their hopes. In the spring of 1804, Burr ran as candidate for 
governor of New York. The plan of the conspirators was to throw 
the Federalist vote of the State to Burr. But Hamilton strongly 
opposed Burr's election. Hamilton hated Jeffersonian democracy 
as bitterly as the New England Federalists hated it, but he was 
against the disruption of the Union. "Dismemberment of our 
empire," he said in the last letter he ever wrote, "will be a clear 
sacrifice of great positive advantages, without any counterbalancing 
good; administering no relief to our real disease, which is democ- 
racy, the poison of which, by a subdivision, will only be the more 
concentrated in each part, and consequently the more virulent." 
But these dismal forebodings were groundless. Burr went down 
in defeat, with the result that the hopes of the "Northern Con- 
federacy" were shattered. 
Hamilton The animosities of the gubernatorial campaign in New York led 

Duel to a duel between Burr and Hamilton. Smarting under defeat, 

Burr called upon Hamilton to make good the charges against his 
character, using language that meant a challenge to a duel. Hamil- 
ton accepted the challenge. The duel which followed is thus 
described by Henry Adams: "Early in the morning of July 11 
[1804], in the brilliant sunlight of a hot summer morning the two 
men were rowed to the duelling-ground across the river, under the 
rocky heights of the Weehawken, and were placed by their seconds 
face to face. Had Hamilton acted with the energy of conviction, 
he would have met Burr in his own spirit; but throughout this 
affair Hamilton showed want of will. He allowed himself to be 
drawn into a duel, but instead of killing Burr he invited Burr to 
kill him. In the paper Hamilton left for his justification he de- 
clared the intention to throw away his first fire. He did so. Burr's 



THE FEDERALISTS IN DISTRESS 



197 



The next day he was chap. 



The 

Reelection 
of 
Jefferson 



bullet passed through Hamilton's body. 
dead." 1 

With Hamilton gone the distress of the Federalists grew deeper, L e a ™j! to t "' s 
for they felt that the last prop of their party had been taken away, the union 
Yet the fortunes of the Federalists would hardly have improved 
even if Hamilton's life had been spared; for the great man was 
no longer in sympathy with his time, and his influence was on the 
wane. "What better can I do," he asked bitterly in 1802, "than 
withdraw from the scene? Every day proves to me more and 
more that this American world was not made for me." Hamilton's 
work was done when he fell ; and a great work it was. ' ' A grand 
impulse to our national system, with consolidation as the corrective 
of a confederacy ; liberal national powers ; protection, force, and 
energy in the central government; financial stability — these were 
Hamilton's great legacy to the American Union." 

The low condition to which the Federalist party had fallen was 
fully revealed in the Presidential election of 1804. In that year 
for the first time the Republicans in the Congressional caucus nom- 
inated their candidate openly. There was really no need for a 
caucus, for all were in favor of Jefferson, who was nominated 
unanimously. The Federalists agreed to support Charles Cotes- 
worth Pinckney of South Carolina for President, although how the 
agreement was reached it is almost impossible to say, so secret 
were the proceedings of the party leaders. The result was an 
overwhelming victory for Jefferson. Desertion overtook Pinckney 
in his own State and even in the Federalist strongholds of New 
Hampshire and Massachusetts. Only the electoral votes of Con- 
necticut and Delaware and two votes from Maryland were cast for 
the Federalist candidate. Jefferson received 162 electoral votes 
and Pinckney fourteen. 

1 The indignation against Burr was so strong that he was forced to leave 
New York and find temporary refuge in South Carolina. Later, however, he 
returned to Washington and completed his term as Vice-President. He then 
went West, where the duel was regarded largely as an "affair of honor" and 
where he was more highly regarded. While in the West he entered into a plot 
to form a new nation somewhere in the western country with himself as Presi- 
dent. Jefferson kept himself fully informed of what Burr was trying to do, and 
in 1807 he caused the schemer to be arrested and brought to trial on a charge 
of treason against his country. The Government failed to convict him, and 
he was released. 



198 JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY 



Suggested Readings 

National capital: McMaster, Vol. II, pp. 482-489. 

Louisiana Purchase: Ogg, pp. 495-538; Gordy, Vol. I, pp. 421-438. 

First administration of Thomas Jefferson : Sehouler, Vol. I, pp. 1-96. 

Jefferson-Burr contest : Stanwood, Vol. I, p. 73. 

Jefferson and his cabinet : Gordy, Vol. I, pp. 383-397. 

The "Northern Confederacy" : Gordy, Vol. I, pp. 439-459. 

Embargo : Gordy, Vol. I, pp. 541-575. 

Commercial warfare : Channing, Vol. IV, pp. 379-402. 



XI 

THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 

JEFFERSON'S first term was crowded with successes, but 
throughout his second term he encountered stormy seas and 
met with disappointments and failures. His troubles grew out of 
the conflict which was raging in Europe and were similar to those 
which beset Washington and Adams while they were maintaining 
the policy of neutrality. They were, indeed, of the kind which 
confronted President Wilson after the outbreak of the World War. 
"The situation during Jefferson's second administration," says 
Professor Latane, "was so similar to that from 1914 to 1917 that 
with the change of a few names and dates the letters prepared by 
Jefferson and Madison might almost pass for those prepared by 
Wilson and Lansing." 

Depredations upon American Commerce 

When the flames of war were lighted up again after the futile A ^e r r s e ° n 
attempt of the Treaty of Amiens to extinguish them, Jefferson de- p 0l ^ 0f 
cided to follow the example of his predecessors. He marked out Neutralit y 
for himself and for the country a course of strict neutrality. "In 
the course of this conflict," he said to Congress in 1803, "let it 
be our endeavor as it is our interest and desire, to cultivate the 
friendship of the belligerent nations by every act of justice and of 
innocent kindness ; to receive their armed vessels with hospitality 
from the distresses of the sea; to establish in our harbors such a 
police as may maintain law and order; to restrain our citizens from 
embarking individually in a war in which their country takes no 
part ; to exact from every nation the observance toward our vessels 
and citizens of those principles and practices which all civilized 
people acknowledge; to merit the character of a just nation, and 
maintain that of an independent one, preferring every consequence 
to insult and habitual wrong." 

These were as sincere words as were ever penned by a statesman, tions e upon 
and for the immediate situation they were timely and wise. But Jmmera 

199 



200 THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 



CHAP. 
XI 



America 

Ground 

between 

Two 

Millstones 



soon Jefferson found that maxims of philanthropy and pacific in- 
tentions would not meet the difficulties which were arising; for 
the more desperate became the death grapple between Great Britain 
and France, the more stringent became the policy of Great Britain 
toward neutral shipping and the more harmful were the retalia- 
tions of France. In their treatment of neutrals France and Great 
Britain went as far toward the total prohibition and destruction 
of ocean trade as it was possible to go. As early as December, 1805, 
Jefferson thus described the depredations which were being made 
upon our commerce: "Our coasts have been infested and our 
harbors watched by private armed vessels, some of these without 
commissions, some with legal commissions, but committing piratical 
acts beyond the authority of their commissions. They have cap- 
tured in the very entrance of our harbors as well as on the high- 
seas, not only the vessels of our friends coming to trade with us, 
but our own also. They have carried them off under pretense of 
legal adjudicature, but not daring to affront a court of justice they 
have plundered and sunk by the way, maltreating the crews and 
abandoning them in boats in the open sea or on desert shores with- 
out food or covering." 

But when Jefferson made this complaint the aggressions had only 
begun. A year later, in December, 1806, Napoleon, who, after the 
battles of Austerlitz and Jena, had become supreme on the Conti- 
nent, issued his extraordinary Berlin Decree, which declared the 
British Islands in a state of blockade; prohibited all intercourse 
with them; decreed that all merchandise coming from them was 
good prize; and declared that n^ ship which had touched at an 
English port should be admitted into the ports of France or of those 
countries in alliance with her. Great Britain, who after Nelson's 
great victory at Trafalgar had become the undisputed mistress of 
the seas, replied to Napoleon in January, 1807, with an Order in 
Council which prohibited all neutral trade between two ports both 
of which were in possession of France or any of her allies. In 
November followed another Order in Council prohibiting all trade 
with ports from which the British flag was excluded unless the 
vessel should first call at a British port, pay customs duties upon 
her cargo, and obtain a fresh clearance. The demand that our 
country should pay taxes into the British treasury was in the 
highest degree exasperating, for to accede to it was to condone a 
flagitious attack upon the very sovereignty of the United States. 



THE IMPRESSMENT OF SEAMEN 201 

But Napoleon declared that he would make war upon the universe x? AP ' 

rather than yield to the pretensions of England. To the Order in 

Council of November he rejoined by a decree issued at Milan on 
December 17, 1807, threatening confiscation to every ship that 
should pay any duty to the British Government or that should sail 
from or to any British port anywhere in the world. 

These decrees and orders taken together were so broad and sweep- 
ing that they amounted virtually to a declaration that every neutral 
vessel found on the high seas, whatever might be its cargo, and 
whatever might be the place of departure or destination, could be 
lawfully captured as a prize of war. Thus American shipping was 
ground between two millstones. Our loss was the greatest because 
we were the greatest neutral carrying power. Between 1803 and 
1812, more than 900 American vessels were captured by the British, 
while more than 500 were captured by the French. 

The Impressment of Seamen 

Serious as were these depredations upon our commerce, they did Englishman 
not create as much excitement and resentment as were created by fngiJSh" 
the impressment of American seamen. In order to maintain her man " 
mastery of the sea it was necessary for Great Britain to have a 
larger number of sailors than she had ever had before. She found 
that as her demand for seamen grew the supply actually dimin- 
ished; for as the American ocean trade increased American ships 
offered employment to more British seamen, with the result that 
at the very time that England was struggling for her existence 
thousands of her sailors deserted every year to serve on American 
vessels, where they received better pay, better food, and better 
treatment. These deserters usually obtained naturalization papers 
and became American citizens. But England would not consent to 
the loss of her sailors. Like many other nations she refused to 
recognize the right of expatriation, her doctrine being, "Once an 
Englishman, always an Englishman." Relying on this principle, 
she asserted the right to reclaim her seamen by the rough process 
of impressment. 

In carrying out her policy of impressment England acted in a England's 
high-handed manner. ' ' She made no demand, ' ' says Schouler, ' ' for handed 
her deserting seamen. On the contrary, she used force and exer- 
cised a discretion of her own, which led to the greatest abuse. 



202 THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 

chap. British naval officers would stop and overhaul an American mer- 

■ chantman, muster its passengers and sailors on deck, and carry off 

forcibly all whom it might suit their convenience to claim as British 
subjects. This was not done in British ports alone, but in those 
of neutrals and upon the high seas. The interested party and the 
stronger one was judge of his own cause. Sailors were wanted and 
the British press-gang laid the universe under contribution. Hence 
did the abuse of the impressment principle far outrun the principle 
itself. Thousands of American natives were taken in the pre- 
tended exercise of a British right of search." 
The j n 1807 there was committed in the name of impressment an out- 

Chesapeake 

Affair ra g e w hich sent a thrill of indignation throughout the entire 

country. As the Chesapeake, a vessel of the American navy, was 
leaving the port of Norfolk it was fired into by a British man-of- 
war, and three of its men were killed and eighteen wounded. The 
American vessel, as it had been seriously crippled, was compelled 
to lower its flag. It was searched, and four men, three of whom 
were native American citizens, were impressed and taken on board 
the British man-of-war. 

Jefferson characterized the Chesapeake affair as an enormity 
without provocation or justifiable cause. He issued a proclamation 
requiring all British armed vessels within American waters to leave 
and forbidding all others to enter American ports unless driven in 
by an enemy or by the stress of weather. He also hurried instruc- 
tions to our minister at London demanding reparation for the 
attack upon the Chesapeake. The minister was to secure a formal 
disavowal of the. deed, the restoration of the four seamen to the 
ship from which they were taken, and an arrangement for the 
"entire abolition of impressment." The demand in respect to im- 
pressment was brushed aside. An apology, however, was made, 
and after years of diplomatic sparring the impressed sailors were 
given up. But the apology was such a half-hearted one that it was 
regarded by many as a keener insult than the offense for which 
it was offered. 

Jefferson's Economic War 

As flagrant as these wrongs and insults were, the country did 
not want war. No war party arose. Neither Federalists nor Re- 
publicans were ready to take up the sword. The Federalists advo- 
cated what Gallatin called "abject and degrading submission," 



JEFFERSON'S ECONOMIC WAR 203 

while the Republicans were content to follow Jefferson who was ™ AP - 
bent upon a peaceful course. 

Jefferson believed that the wrongs of the nation could be re- p°stdctTo 
dressed through commercial restrictions. It had been his idea 
from the very beginning of the European struggle that England 
and France could be compelled to respect our rights by appealing 
to their interests. It will be remembered that in 1793, he contended 
that Congress, instead of declaring war against the nations com- 
mitting depredations upon our commerce, should close our ports 
upon the goods and ships of these offending nations, and should 
keep them closed as long as the depredations continued. 1 "This 
would work well," he said, "in many ways, safely in all, and intro- 
duce between nations another umpire than arms. It would relieve 
us too from the risks and the horrors of cutting throats." Now 
that Jefferson was President and had a Congress that he could 
control he could try the efficacy of economic warfare. In April, 

1806, Congress, conforming to his wishes, passed a Non-importation 
Act which forbade the importation, directly or indirectly, from 
Great Britain and her dependencies, after November 15, 1806, of a 
long list of goods including glassware, paper, hats, and articles 
made of leather, silk, hemp, and flax. 

The Non-importation Act was not put into effect until December, f tl Jt reatv 

1807. The postponement was due to the fact that Jefferson wished Pailed 
to make the way easy for a treaty which he was trying to negotiate 
with England ; for he was only too willing to settle the difficulties 
through diplomacy, if it should be possible to do so. In 1806, 
when the commercial articles of Jay's Treaty had expired, he in- 
structed James Monroe and his colleague in London, William 
Pinkney, to attempt the negotiation of a new British treaty that 
would protect our commerce against the attacks of British cruisers 

and our sailors from the wrongs of impressment. But Great 
Britain clung tenaciously to the principle of impressment, feeling 
that her safety depended upon the forcible employment of her 
seafaring men. Nevertheless, a treaty containing a number of 
compromises was secured in London. When the document reached 
Washington, however, it was found to be so unsatisfactory that it 
was pigeon-holed; Jefferson did not even think it worth while to 
submit it to the Senate. He was not greatly disappointed at the 
outcome, for his theory was that treaties after all did not amount 
1 See p. 157. 



204 THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 



to much. "On the subject of treaties," he wrote in 1804, "our 
system is to have none with any nation as far as can be avoided. 
We believe that with nations as with individuals, dealings may be 
carried on as advantageously, perhaps more so, while their con- 
tinuance depends on a voluntary good treatment, as if fixed by a 
contract which, when it becomes injurious to either, is made by 
forced constructions to mean what suits them, and becomes a bond 
of war instead of a bond of peace." 

After the failure of the treaty negotiations Jefferson felt there 
was nothing left but his cherished policy of commercial restriction. 
And presently it became necessary for him to give that policy its 
fullest scope, for the British Orders in Council and the French de- 
crees had brought matters to such a pass that drastic action was 
necessary. In December, 1807, eight days after the Non-importa- 
tion Act became effective, Jefferson, in a message which set forth 
the dangers that beset American ships and their merchandise, asked 
Congress for a law prohibiting the departure of. our vessels from 
the ports of the United States. Congress responded by passing the 
Embargo Act. Under the terms of this act, which went into effect 
immediately upon its passage, no registered vessel could leave an 
American port without giving a heavy bond that she would land 
her cargo in some port of .the United States. 

It was Jefferson 's hope that the embargo would cripple the trade 
of England, and that its results would be felt so keenly by British 
merchants and laborers that Parliament would be driven to redress 
the many grievances of which Americans complained. But in this 
hope he was disappointed; for while the embargo inflicted consid- 
erable loss upon the manufacturing industries of England, in other 
directions it was a source of actual gain. It was helpful to British 
ship-owners, for with no American ships on the ocean they were 
secure in their monopoly of the carrying trade; it was helpful to 
British landowners, because it had the effect of increasing the price 
of their grain ; and it was helpful to the British navy, for it drove 
into the service of England thousands of American sailors who' 
could no longer find employment in their own country. 

And what effect did Jefferson's economic war have at homo? 
The embargo virtually destroyed American foreign trade. The 
value of our exports dropped in a single year from $110,000,000 to 
$22,000,000, while our customs revenue fell from $16,000,000 to 
$7,000,000. The ravages of economic warfare were visible along 



JEFFERSON'S RETIREMENT 205 

the entire seaboard. John Lambert, an English traveler, gives the x? AP ' 
following description of the results of economic warfare as they 
were seen in the city of New York: "The port, indeed, was full 
of shipping, but they were dismantled and laid up. Their decks 
were cleared, their hatches fastened down, and scarcely a sailor 
was to be found on board. Not a bale, cask, barrel, or package was 
to be seen on the wharves. The few merchants, clerks, porters, and 
laborers that were to be seen were walking about with their hands 
in their pockets. A few coasting ships which were clearing for 
some of the ports of the United States were all that remained of 
that immense business which was carried on a few months before. 
The streets near the waterside were almost deserted, the grass had 
begun to grow up on the wharves. ' ' 

The effects of the Embargo Act were so disastrous that, to Jeffer- foterrouri 
son's great sorrow, it had to be repealed fourteen months after it Act 
was enacted. In its place was substituted the Non-intercourse Act 
of 1809. This forbade American vessels to trade with England and 
France, but permitted them to trade with other nations. Should 
France, however, revoke her decrees, or Great Britain rescind her 
Orders in Council, the law might be suspended and trade renewed 
by proclamation of the President. The Non-intercourse Act had 
two desirable features which the Embargo Act did not possess. It 
put France and Great Britain under the same ban, thus refuting 
the charge made by the Federalists that the administration was in 
league with France ; and it gave to each nation an opportunity to 
enter upon peaceful trade relations with the United States at any 
moment it should choose to respect American rights. 

Jefferson's Retirement 

Three days after Jefferson signed the Non-intercourse Act his ^office" 
second term came to an end. As early as 1805, he had determined 
not to be a candidate for a third term. Had he desired reelection, 
however, in 1808, there is no doubt that he would have been the 
choice of the voters. But rotation in office was one of the cardinal 
points of Jeffersonian doctrine. "There are in our country," he 
had said in 1807, "a great number of characters equal to the man- 
agement of the affairs of the Presidency. Many of them, indeed, 
have not had the opportunities of making themselves known to their 
fellow citizens, but many have had, and the only difficulty will be 



206 THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 



CHAP. 



Jefferson's 
Teachings 



The 
Election of 

Madison 



to choose among them. These changes are necessary to the security 
of republican government. If some period be not fixed either by 
the Constitution or practice, to the services of the first magistrate, 
his office, though nominally elective, will in fact be for life, and 
that will soon degenerate into an inheritance." Jefferson, accord- 
ingly, followed the example set by Washington, and refused a third 
term. 

For more than thirty years before his retirement to private life, 
and for many years after, Jefferson was America 's political teacher. 
What were the lessons learned from the great master? Schouler 
has summed them up as follows: " Liberal education, liberal poli- 
tics, liberal religion ; a free press ; America for Americans ; faith in 
the simple arts of peace, in science, and material progress, in popu- 
lar rule, in honesty, in government economies; no king, no caste, 
room for the oppressed of all climes; hostility to monopolies; the 
divorce of government from banks, from pet corporations, and from 
every form of paternalism ; foreign friendship and intercourse 
without foreign alliances; the gradual propagation of republican 
ideas on the western hemisphere while gently forcing Europe out; 
meagre force establishments, meagre preparation for war in times 
of peace ; a leaning towards militia and State volunteers for defense 
in emergencies rather than dependence upon national troops and 
pretorian guards; father of the indefinite expansion of the Union, 
and of the practice of self-government upon this continent; all 
these — though others inculcated some of these maxims — is Jeffer- 
sonianism." 

At the close of his official career Jefferson was still the undis- 
puted leader of his party. In the Presidential election of 1808 he 
could name the Republican candidate, and he did so. His choice 
fell upon his secretary of state, James Madison, who by every con- 
sideration of merit, experience, and party service was entitled to 
promotion. In accordance with Jefferson's desires the Republican 
caucus, consisting of eighty-nine senators and representatives, nom- 
inated Madison, casting for him eighty-three votes, three of the 
votes having been thrown to George Clinton, of New York, and 
three to James Monroe. The announcement of the action of the 
caucus was made in the form of a resolution which declared ' ' that 
in making the foregoing recommendation the members of this meet- 
ing have acted only in their individual character as citizens." 
Among the friends of Monroe and also among those of Clinton there 



DRIFTING TOWARDS WAR 207 

was considerable dissatisfaction with the action of the caucus; but £\ IAP - 

party discipline prevailed. As a result of the election Madison 

received 122 electoral votes. The Federalist candidate, C. C. 
Pinckney of South Carolina, received forty-seven votes. In the 
Congressional elections enough Republicans were elected to give 
the administration a working majority in both houses of Congress. 
So Jefferson left his party fully entrenched in power. 

Drifting Towards War 

When Madison came to the Presidency on March 4, 1809, France £ij£te 8 
and England were still at war and the shipping of the United States 
was still suffering at the hands of these rival powers. The new 
President was in full accord with the policy of commercial restric- 
tion which he inherited from his predecessor. In his inaugural 
address Madison said that in all cases he preferred "amicable dis- 
cussions and reasonable accommodation of differences to a decision 
of them by an appeal to arms." For a moment it seemed that with 
England at least an "accommodation of differences" would be pos- 
sible. In April, 1809, David Erskine, the British minister at Wash- 
ington, gave Madison to understand that the British Government 
would withdraw the Orders in Council, provided the American 
Government would permit intercourse between the two countries 
and refuse it to France. Relying upon Erskine 's word Congress in 
special session in June, 1809, suspended the Non-intercourse Act 
in so far as it applied to England. When Madison announced 
the glad tidings that American shipping was again free a thousand 
vessels laden with wheat, rice, and cotton "spread their white 
wings like a flock of imprisoned birds and flew out to sea." But 
this freedom was short-lived, for quickly there came word from 
England that a mistake had been made, that Erskine had promised 
more than he had been authorized to promise, and that the arrange- 
ment he had made had been repudiated flatly by the British Gov- 
ernment. After this disavowal Madison was obliged to issue 
another proclamation, announcing that the Non-intercourse Act 
"was revived and that trade with Great Britain was again pro- 
hibited. 

The failure of the Erskine arrangement was followed by an Non-inter- 

° ^ course Act 

attempt of Napoleon to direct American sentiment wholly against |" l ^ ra ^ e 
Great Britain. In August, 1810. the emperor authorized the for- to France 



208 THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 



CHAP. 
XI 



Neutrality 
No Longer 
Possible 



Additional 
Irritants 



eign minister of France to declare that the decrees of Berlin and 
Milan 1 were revoked ; but he managed things so adroitly that it 
was almost impossible to determine whether the decrees against 
American commerce had been actually withdrawn. "No one here," 
said Jonathan Russel, our diplomatic representative in Paris, "ex- 
cept the Emperor knows if the Berlin and Milan decrees be 
absolutely revoked or not; and no one dares to inquire of him 
concerning them." Still, notwithstanding the uncertainty of 
Napoleon's position, Congress took it for granted that the French 
decrees had been withdrawn and repealed the Non-intercourse Act 
in so far as it applied to France. Madison now tried to persuade 
England to withdraw her Orders in Council; but she refused be- 
cause she believed that the French decrees had not in fact been 
revoked and that Napoleon was not acting in good faith. While 
France was relieved of the restrictions of the Non-intercourse Act, 
therefore, England continued to be held by the terms of that law. 

Here was a turning-point in American policy ; the neutral course 
toward both England and France could no longer be maintained. 
Either we must fight Great Britain or we must fight France. There 
was almost as much reason for fighting one country as the other. 
But it would have been almost impossible to wage war against 
France, for she presented no vulnerable point of attack. "War 
with France," said William Pinkney in 1810, "is about as prac- 
ticable as war with the moon." In the selection of an antagonist, 
therefore, we chose Great Britain ; and it is difficult to see how we 
could have done otherwise. The American Government was con- 
fronted by the hard fact that France had desisted nominally, at 
least, from her aggressions, and, in the opinion of our Government, 
substantially ; while England had desisted neither nominally nor 
substantially. Moreover England gave no indication that she would 
mend her ways in the matter of impressments — the very matter 
that was the chief source of the animosity against her. That the 
animosity was great was no wonder, for in 1811 it was admitted 
on the floor of the House of Commons that as many as 1600 Ameri- 
cans had been dragged from the decks of American vessels and 
compelled to fight the battles of England. 

But impressments and seizures of vessels were not the only things 
that were dragging England and the United States into war. In 
1811 on the frontier in the Northwest we were having a great deal 

'See p. 200. 



DRIFTING TOWARDS WAR 209 

of trouble with the Indians — as we shall learn more fully here- x? AP ' 

after, 1 — and there was reason to believe that the discontent of the 

red men was fostered by British traders. William Henry Harrison, 
the governor of Indiana Territory, said in 1811, "Within the last 
three months the whole of the Indians on the frontier have been 
completely armed and equipped at the King's stores at Maiden." 
Although there was no good reason for believing that the British 
Government directly assisted the Indians in their uprisings there 
was nevertheless a widespread belief in the United States that such 
assistance was given. Furthermore, diplomatic relations suffered 
a severe strain in 1811 when William Pinkney, our minister to 
Great Britain, left his post because he could see no prospect of 
securing fair treatment at the hands of the British Government. 
The withdrawal of Pinkney was almost equivalent to a severance 
of peaceful relations. To intensify the angry feelings between the 
two nations there occurred in August, 1811, an actual encounter 
between the American frigate President and the British ship Little 
Belt. In the encounter the British vessel was worsted. 

The exultations over the success of the American ship in the J. h « ; united 
"Little Belt affair" showed that the war spirit was rife. This Prepares 

x for War 

spirit was quickly reflected in Congress, where a war party led by 
Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun took matters in hand and 
determined that the United States must prepare for war against 
England. Late in 1811 and early in 1812 bills were passed pro- 
viding for substantial additions to the regular army, for raising 
a large number of volunteers, for calling out such militia detach- 
ments as might be needful, for fitting out all public vessels not 
already in service, and for allowing merchant vessels to arm. This 
last provision, the arming of merchant vessels and sending them 
out on their voyages with authority to defend themselves, was re- 
garded by the British Government as virtually equivalent to a 
declaration of hostilities, because "it announced a system which if 
carried into practice must occasion acts of hostile violence as may 
tend to produce the calamity of war between two countries" — a 
view identical with one which was advanced on the floor of Con- 
gress in 1917 when it was proposed to arm our merchantmen and 
send them out, submarines or no submarines. 

Madison was in favor of the preparations for war, but he did yfeWsTo 
not want to fight. Indeed, his critics declared that he could not be Hawks'" 

1 See p. 224. 



210 THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 



CHAP. 
XI 



The Orders 
in Council 
Rescinded 
Too Late 



kicked into a war. If he had had his way neutrality might in 
some way have been maintained. But he was not allowed to have 
his way. Clay and his "war hawks" wound the horn so loudly 
that the President was bound to harken. On June 1, 1812, Madison 
in a message recommended a declaration of war. 1 Congress on 
June 18 responded with a declaration that war existed between the 
United States and Great Britain. The grievances cited" in the dec- 
laration were the violation of the American flag on the high seas; 
the blockading of our ports ; the impressment of our seamen ; the 
refusal of Great Britain to repeal the Orders in Council; and the 
Indian disturbances in the Northwest. 

England did not welcome war with the United States, for there 
was much discontent among her people, and she was already stag- 
gering under the burdens of her European wars. And if there 
could have been cable communications the war in all probability 
would never have begun. Five days after Congress had declared 
war, and before Great Britain had heard of the declaration, her 
Government unconditionally rescinded the exasperating Orders in 
Council. But this action came too late ; Congress, when it made 
its decision, was ignorant of England's intentions. When the news 
of the British action reached America the fighting had begun ; and 
the "war hawks" were only too willing that it should continue. 



The War of 1812 



America 
Unprepared 



When war was declared we were in an almost wholly defenseless 
condition. This was to be expected, for the doctrines of Jefferson 
and Madison, and their practice as well, were at variance with a 
policy that would have established a condition of preparedness for 
war. Our little army of 6,000 men was scattered at posts along 
the western and northern frontiers where soldiers were needed as 
a defense against the Indians. Our navy consisted of about a 
dozen good fighting ships, while "Britannia ruled the wave" with 
nearly a thousand. "Our enemy," said a manifesto issued by mem- 
bers of Congress opposed to the war, "is the greatest maritime 
power that has been on earth and to her we offer the most tempting 

1 At this time there was a great deal of political gossip to the effect that 
Madison was informed by party leaders that if he wished reelection he must 
come out for war. Whatever may have been the foundation for talk of this 
kind, Madison in 1812 was selected by the Congressional caucus as the candi- 
date of the Republicans and was reelected. 



THE WAR OF 1812 211 

prizes. Our rich cities lie along the Atlantic seaboard close to the xi™' 
water's edge. And to defend these from the cruisers of Great 
Britain we are to have an army of raw recruits yet to be raised 
and a navy of gunboats, now stranded on the beaches, and frigates 
that have long been rotting in the slime of the Potomac." Not 
only were we lacking in a fighting force, but we did not have the 
"sinews of war." Our national finances were in a deplorable con- 
dition owing to the fact that our revenues had been greatly reduced 
by the many interruptions to commerce during the preceding years. 
Still another unfortunate circumstance was the weakness of mili- 
tary leadership ; nearly all our officers were old men who, although 
they had fought in the Revolution, had not commanded regiments 
on battle-fields. 

But even worse than this condition of unpreparedness was the Divided hi" 
divided sentiment of the country, a division which was described Suntiment 
by John Quincy Adams in the following words: "In the Eastern 
States the opposition to the war was marked and virulent. Every 
one who dared to speak in defense of the administration was de- 
nounced in the most unmeasured terms, and curses and anathemas 
were liberally hurled from the pulpit on the heads of all those who 
aided, directly or indirectly, in carrying on the war. In the Middle 
and Southern States, public opinion was divided, though a large 
majority approved the measures adopted by Congress. But in the 
West there was only one sentiment; love of country sparkled in 
every eye, and animated every heart. The importing merchants, 
the lawyers in the principal cities, some planters, and the clergy 
for the most part, were numbered in the ranks of the opposition; 
and the war found its most ardent and enthusiastic advocates 
among the farmers and planters, the mechanics, the mariners, and 
the laboring men." In Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode 
Island, the sentiment against the war was so strong that the quotas 
of soldiers which should have been sent from those States were 
flatly refused. One thing, however, was in our favor: Great 
Britain could not throw her full force against us ; for in 1812 her 
mighty struggle with Napoleon was at its height. 

The War of 1812 was for the most part a war in the woods. In ™gi m ,in g 
but few instances was there fighting in the thickly settled portions struggle 
of the country. The struggle opened in the wilds of Michigan and 
Canada. For some time the war party had been crying "On to 
Canada!" On July 12, therefore, immediately after the declara- 



212 THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 



CHAP. 
XI 



A Notable 
Victory 
on the Sea 



tion of hostilities, General William Hull, who had served in the 
Revolution, crossed from Detroit into Canada with about 2,000 
men, but in a few weeks he had retreated and had surrendered to 
General Brock, the governor of Canada. Michigan Territory 
quickly passed into the hands of the British, and it was only with 
difficulty that Ohio was saved. In a few months the Americans 
made a second attack upon Canada in the neighborhood of Niagara, 
but again the campaign was fruitless. 




Perry's 
Triumph 



While the first year of the 
war brought us no success on 
land, on the sea it gave us a 
notable victory. Almost while 
Hull was surrendering at Detroit the American frigate Constitution 
was capturing off the Gulf of St. Lawrence the British frigate Guer- 
riere after two hours of fighting of the fiercest kind. This triumph 
caused England to look with astonishment, for until the Guerriere's 
colors were struck to the Constitution, a British frigate had never 
before been humiliated at sea. "On the day of that battle," says 
Charles Francis Adams, "this country became a nationality to be 
reckoned with." 

This victory upon the ocean was followed by a remarkable 
achievement on the Great Lakes. England had a fleet of about a 



THE WAR OF 1812 213 

dozen vessels in the upper Lakes; and the Americans under the x? AP ' 
leadership of Oliver Hazard Perry undertook to rid the Lakes of 
them. The American vessels had first to be built. The timber of 
the fleet was still standing in the woods, and the stores, canvas, 
and cordage were in the cities along the seaboard. But through 
deep snows, sleds and wagons brought the necessary materials to 
the shores of Lake Erie, where wood-choppers and ship carpenters 
were put to work. By July, 1813, five newly-built vessels were 
ready for fighting. Perry came upon the British at Put-in-Bay, 
off Sandusky, Ohio, and a hot battle followed. At one time Perry's 
own ship was about to sink. The young commander — he was only 
twenty-eight — made his way in a little boat to another vessel and 
kept up the fight until the British fleet raised the white flag. Perry 
announced his victory in the famous words: "We have met the 
enemy and they are ours : two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and 
one sloop." Perry's triumph saved Ohio from the British and 
made it easy for the Americans to regain control of Detroit and 
the Michigan country. 

In 1814 came the startling news that Napoleon's once invincible ^fghTat 
army had been shattered at Leipsic, and that the power of the plattsbui 
great warrior had been broken. After the downfall of Napoleon 
England was free to send larger fleets and armies to America. She 
now planned for a double campaign : part of her strength was to 
be thrown against the North and a part against the South. A great 
number of the veterans who had been engaged in the Napoleonic 
wars were sent to the Canadian frontier. A strong invading force 
moved down Lake Champlain with the purpose of taking posses- 
sion of the upper Hudson country. But Captain Thomas Me- 
Donough with an improvised fleet of gunboats met the invading 
squadron at Plattsburg and defeated it. The result of the battle 
at Plattsburg was to check and disperse 9,000 British veterans in 
the region of Lake Champlain. 

In 1814 also there was much fierce fighting in the neighborhood Lane ys 
of Niagara Falls. Generals Jacob Brown and Winfield Scott, 
crossing into Canada on July 5, defeated the British at Chippewa 
Falls. A few days later at Lundy's Lane, where the roar of artil- 
lery was answered by the roar of the great falls near-by, the 
bloodiest battle of the war was fought, neither side winning a de- 
cisive victory. The Americans held their ground for a while and 
then withdrew from Canada. Thus the result of all the fighting 



214 THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 



chap. ou the northern frontier was that the British failed to get a foot- 

hold upon American soil, while the Americans failed to make any 

headway in Canada. 
The Before entering upon the campaign at the South, the British 

Washington by way of a diversion made several attacks at points along the 
Atlantic seaboard. In Virginia and Maryland they burned vil- 
lages, bridges, and farm-houses and took from farmers their slaves 
and cattle and grain. In the summer of 1814 they led an army 
against Washington, still a village of only a few thousand in- 
habitants. After routing our militia at Bladensburg and driving 
the officers of the Government into the woods, they burned the 
Capitol and the President's mansion. Of the burning of Wash- 
ington one of the greatest of England's historians says, "Few 
more shameful acts are recorded in our history : and it was the 
more shameful in that it was done under strict orders from the 
Government at home." A later British historian, however, de- 
clares that the burning was no wanton outrage, but was justifiable 
as a direct reprisal in kind for the burning of the village of York 
in Canada. A later American historian characterizes the burning 
of the Capitol as a "piece of pure, unmitigated vandalism." 

Having accomplished their purposes at Washington, the British 
moved against Baltimore. Here they were less successful than 
they had been at the undefended capital. Baltimore was prepared 
for the attack. The guns at Fort McHenry would not allow the 
British to approach the city. All day and far into the night the 
British bombarded the fort but could not capture it. Francis 
Scott Key during the night had been watching the bombardment, 
and when in the morning he saw our flag still waving from the 
walls of the fort he was inspired to write "The Star-Spangled 
Banner." The British fleet, unable to pass the fort, abandoned 
the siege of Baltimore and sailed away. 

In the last months of 1814, darkness, almost despair, was settling 
upon the American cause. There was disorder in the finances, 
demoralization in the army, and widespread dissatisfaction with 
the conduct of the war. ' ' Sitting in the ashes of its former home, 
it did indeed seem that the Government must soon collapse." In 
an effort to build up the army the administration in December, 
1814, came forward with a sweeping conscription measure; the 
entire free male population between the ages of eighteen and forty- 
five was to be compulsorily enrolled. But Congress was not pre- 



The 

British at 
Baltimore 



Conscrip- 
tion 
Proposed 



THE WAR OF 1812 215 

pared for such drastic action. Daniel "Webster, then a member of ™ AP- 
the House, threw his eloquence against the Conscription Bill, and 
during his entire lifetime he remembered with satisfaction the part 
he took in defeating it. In a speech he uttered the words so fre- 
quently quoted when the Selective Draft Act was before Congress 
in 1917: "The Administration asserts the right to fill the ranks 
of the regular army by compulsion. Is this, sir, consistent with 
the character of a free government? Is this civil liberty? Is this 
the real character of our Constitution? No, sir, indeed it is not. 
The people of this country have not established for themselves 
such a fabric of despotism." Upon the disagreement of the two 
houses the Conscription Bill was defeated. 

Dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war expressed itself in Hartfoi 
New England in a very ugly fashion. In December, 1814, a con- Conven 
vention of twenty-six delegates from five New England States met 
at Hartford for the purpose of giving a voice to the discontent 
in New England at the progress of the war. After a long discus- 
sion behind closed doors the convention adjourned in January, 
1814, having placed itself on record as favoring the doctrines enun- 
ciated in the Kentucky Resolutions. 1 In its report the convention 
strongly hinted that the time might come when the States would 
be justified in withdrawing from the Union. By this time it was 
becoming a habit with public men to resort to the threat of seces- 
sion whenever the measures of the Federal Government conflicted 
with the interest of a region. Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts had 
made such a threat on the floor of the House of Representatives 
in 1811 when opposing the admission of Louisiana into the Union. 
"It is my deliberate opinion," said Quincy, "that if this bill 
passes the bonds of the Union are virtually dissolved; that the 
States which compose it are free from their obligations; and that 
as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, to 
prepare definitely for a separation — amicably if they can, violently 
if they must." The doctrine of nullification was espoused by the 
Hartford Convention as well as the doctrine of secession. "Acts 
of Congress in violation of the Constitution," said the report, "are 
absolutely void and States that have no common umpire must be 
their own judges and execute their own decisions." A committee 
was sent by the convention to wait upon Congress and ask it for 
certain amendments to the Constitution, but by the time the com- 

'See p. 180. 



216 THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 



CHAP. 
XI 



The British 
Campaign 
in the 
South 



The Battle 
of New 
Orleans 



The Treaty 
of Ghent 



mittee reached Washington the war was over. Accordingly, noth- 
ing was done by the committee and the work of the convention 
came to naught. 

While Congress was wrangling over the Conscription Bill and 
the Hartford Convention was holding its sessions the enemy was 
going ahead with his plans. After the unsuccessful attack upon 
Baltimore the British fleet sailed to the Gulf of Mexico and, join- 
ing with another British force, began its campaign in the South. 
It was the purpose of the British to unite with the Indians of the 
Gulf region and with the disaffected French and Spaniards and 
drive the Americans entirely out of Louisiana. But before the 
English were ready for operations in the South, General Andrew 
Jackson had marched against the Creeks, the most powerful of the 
Southern Indians, and had defeated them in battle after battle. 
Having thus broken completely the power of the Indians, Jackson 
seized Pensacola in order to head off the British at that point and 
promptly prepared to defend New Orleans against the impending 
attack. The advance upon New Orleans was begun late in 1814 
when Sir Edward Pakenham with a fleet of fifty vessels and a 
force of nearly 10,000 veterans began to move against the city. 
Though Jackson had a much smaller force, there were among his 
men a great many excellent riflemen of Tennessee and Kentucky. 
After several skirmishes Pakenham made a last charge upon the 
Americans on January 8, 1815, but his men could not withstand 
the terrific fire of the riflemen. Whole platoons of the British fell 
in their tracks. The invaders lost their commander and were 
repelled with a loss of more than 2,000 men. The American loss 
was eight killed and thirteen wounded. Thus Louisiana was saved 
to the United States, and its savior, Andrew Jackson, became the 
great hero of the South and West. 

We have seen that if there had been cable communication the 
War of 1812 probably would never have had a beginning. Like- 
wise if in 1815 there had been such a thing as a transoceanic tele- 
graph the greatest battle of this war would never have been fought. 
Two weeks before the Battle of New Orleans, a treaty ending the 
war had been signed on December 24, 1814, by the belligerent 
nations at Ghent. The peace commissioners representing the 
United States at the beginning of the negotiations were under 
instruction to make the abandonment of impressments a sine qua 
non for a treaty. But when it was found that Great Britain would 



THE WAR OF 1812 



217 



not renounce impressment Monroe, the secretary of state, yielded, 
writing to the commission : "You may omit any stipulation on the 
subject of impressments, if found indispensably necessary to ter- 
minate it [the war]." The treaty accordingly settled nothing 
about impressment, the chief cause of the war. Indeed the Treaty 
of Ghent settled nothing of importance; it was simply an agree- 
ment to stop fighting. So far as outward and immediate results 
were concerned, the treaty left both nations at the end of the 
war precisely where they were at the beginning. 

From a military point of view the War of 1812 was not a great 
event. The cost of the war during nearly three years of fighting 
was less than was spent in three days during the war with Ger- 
many. At no time were there more than 30,000 fighting men in 
the field, nor was there a single battle in which as many as 4,000 
American soldiers engaged. The number of men killed in all the 
land battles did not exceed 1,600 — about as many as were lost on 
the Titanic — and the number of wounded was less than 3,500. 

Although the War of 1812 cost little in blood and treasure it 
nevertheless affected profoundly the course of American history. 
It gave us our commercial freedom. Although Great Britain made 
no concessions in regard to impressment and the rights of neu- 
trality, she nevertheless after the Treaty of Ghent ceased to im- 
press American seamen and desisted from interfering with our 
commerce; and other nations accorded us equal respect. After 
the War of 1812 we were done with Orders in Council and French 
decrees, and could work out our commercial destiny in peace : for 
more than a hundred years trade on the ocean was free and sailors' 
rights secure. 



CHAP. 
XI 



Statistics 
of the War 



Results 
of the War 



Suggested Readings 

Submission or war? Gordy, Vol. I, pp. 576-592. 

Beginnings of the War of 1812 : Schouler, Vol. II, pp. 323-355. 

James Madison : Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 86-105. 

Effects of the War of 1812 : Coman, pp. 175-206. 

Napoleon Bonaparte : Robinson and Beard, Vol. I, pp. 284-298. 

War of 1812 — geographical aspects : " Semple, pp. 134-149. 

War along the Atlantic coast : McMaster, Vol. IV, pp. 121-155. 



XII 
TWENTY YEARS OF WONDROUS GROWTH (1800-20) 

WITH the ending of the War of 1812 Americans turned their 
backs upon Europe and their faces to the West, where they 
could easily read the destinies of the rising nation. During the 
administrations of Jefferson and Madison the work of winning the 
West did not cease for a single day. Between 1800 and 1820 the 
stream of western migration flowed so fast that the population of 
the country beyond the Alleghanies increased nearly 2,000,000. 
Within this brief period half a million square miles of territory 
were rescued from barbarism and from the dominion of wild beasts 
and brought under the influence of American civilization. Never 
before in all history was such a stupendous change on the earth's 
surface made in such a short space of time. 

The Land Policy of the National Government 

The Land T^g westward movement in these years was greatly accelerated 

by the liberal land policy of the National Government. At first 
Congress regarded the Western lands as a possession to be ex- 
ploited solely with a view to revenue, and it disposed of them in 
very large tracts at the highest possible price. Under this earlier 
system nobody but the rich could buy. It was not long, however, 
before our statesmen began to regard the public domain as a 
national possession which ought to be used not so much for the 
benefit of the National Treasury as for the benefit of all the people. 
Accordingly in 1800 Congress, changing its policy, passed a law 
under which a settler might purchase a half -section of land — 320 
acres — at two dollars an acre and pay for it in four yearly instal- 
ments. In 1820 Congress, carrying its liberal policy even further, 
reduced the price to $1.25 an acre and provided that lots as small 
as eighty acres might be purchased, thus making it possible for 
almost anybody, even the poorest, to become the owner of a little 
farm. 

218 



MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 219 

The National Government in 1810 had for sale more than chap. 

150,000,000 acres of good tillable land east of the Mississippi, and 

west of that river it had countless millions of acres more. Here ANa ti°n 

ot Land- 
WaS the secret not only of the strength and swiftness of the west- h °iders 

ward movement, but also of the strength and prosperity of the 
American nation during its formative period. The almost inex- 
haustible supply of public land, at a nominal price, made us from 
the beginning a nation of landholders. "The pride and delight 
of Americans," said Harriet Martineau, "is the quantity of land. 
The possession of land is the aim of all actions, generally speaking, 
and the cure for all social evils among men in the United States. 
If a man is disappointed in politics or love he goes and buys land. 
If he disgraces himself, he betakes himself to a lot in the West. 
If the demand for any article of manufacture slackens, the opera- 
tives drop into the unsettled lands. If a citizen's neighbors rise 
above him in the town he betakes himself where he can be monarch 
of all he surveys. An artisan works that he may die on land of 
his own. He is frugal that he may enable his son to be a land 
owner. Farmers' daughters go into factories that they may clear 
off the mortgages from their fathers' farms; that they may be 
independent land owners again." 

Means of Communication 

In the upbuilding of the West the question of transportation SiTvv^Jt 5 
was for more than half a century quite as important as the ques- 
tion of cheap lands. The journey to the far-off Western farms 
was costly and toilsome and was beset with difficulties and dangers. 
The pioneer could reach the Northwestern wilderness — for in 1800, 
except for a fringe of settlement along the Ohio River, the North- 
west Territory was still a wilderness — by several well-defined 
routes. New England settlers made their way up the Mohawk 
Valley and along the Genesee turnpike to Lake Erie. But not all 
the home-seekers going out from New England pushed on to the 
West. Many remained on the lands between the sources of the 
Mohawk and Lake Erie, where they cleared forests, erected mills, 
built towns, and laid the foundations of western New York. By 
1816 the road from Utica to Buffalo was lined with villages. 

The pioneer moving through Pennsylvania to the Western coun- Plttsbur sh 
try followed the old Forbes Road which, during the French and 



220 TWENTY YEARS OF WONDROUS GROWTH (1800-20) 



CHAP. 
XII 



The 

National 
Road 



Indian War, had been cut through from Philadelphia to Pitts- 
burgh. This frontier town was now becoming a distributing center 
for western trade. Its population in 1818 was about 5,000. It had 
767 buildings, a steam mill that could grind 500 bushels of grain 
in a day, four glass factories, several breweries and distilleries, two 
cotton factories, a wire mill, and an iron mill. At Pittsburgh the 
pioneer bound for the Northwest placed his goods on a flat-boat 
and made his way by water to the place where he wished to make 
for himself a home. 




Routes to the West during the Turnpike Era (1800-1825) 



Settlers starting at Baltimore followed a turnpike until they 
reached Cumberland. From this point in the earlier years the 
journey usually led over the mountains to Pittsburgh. Soon, how- 
ever, a highway was built from Cumberland to Wheeling. This 
was the National Road, for the construction of which Congress as 
early as 1806 had appropriated $30,000; though actual operations 
did not begin until 1811. By 1818 the famous highway was 
finished, and coaches were running from Baltimore to Wheeling. 
The National Road was built at the expense of the Federal Gov- 
ernment, nearly $7,000,000 in all being spent on its construction. 
It was worth its cost many times over, for it was a powerful factor 



MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 221 

in the development of the West. No sooner was it completed than x?i AP " 

great streams of traffic began to move over it. Passenger coaches 

rushed along its smooth surface at the rate of ten miles an hour, 
and wagons drawn by ten or twelve horses carried loads that some- 
times weighed as much as ten tons. 

The conditions of traveling to the "Western country in the early conditions 
days were well described as follows by the traveler Imlay : "If 
the emigrant has a family or goods of any sort to remove his best 
way would be to purchase a wagon and a team of horses. The 
wagon may be covered with canvas, and if it is the choice of the 
people they may sleep in it at night with the greatest safety. The 
provisions of the family I would purchase of the farmers as you 
pass along, and by having two or three camp kettles and stopping 
every evening when the weather is fine upon the brink of some 
rivulet and by kindling a fire they may soon dress their food. The 
best way is to convey their tea and coffee from the place they may 
set out at. The distance which one of those wagons may travel in 
one day is little short of twenty miles. So that it will be a journey 
from Alexandria [in Virginia] to Red Stone Old Fort [on the 
Monongahela River] of eleven or twelve days, and from Phila- 
delphia to Pittsburg, it would require nearly twenty days." 

Beyond the Alleghanies in the old Northwest pioneers found no 
roads at all. There were the trails made by Indians and buffaloes, 
but these were so narrow that even a rider on horseback moved 
along with difficulty. The only roads were the rivers. But the 
system of waterways which lay open to the Western settlers was 
one of the finest in the world. The early pioneers, however, at first 
could not make the best use of the rivers, for they had no boats 
that could carry heavy burdens and at the same time move swiftly 
and easily in narrow streams. As a result, crops could not be 
shipped to market and farmers raised more grain than they could 
sell. 

But invention soon came to the relief of the Western farmer t 1 " 8 t 

Steamboat 

and gave him the steamboat. As early as 1786 James Rumsey of 
Shepherdstown (then in Virginia) propelled on the Potomac River 
what was perhaps the first boat that was ever moved by steam. 
The next year John Fitch was operating a steamboat on the Dela- 
ware River. But the boats of Rumsey and Fitch were clumsy 
affairs and proved to be unsuccessful. The first really successful 
steamboat was built by Robert Fulton, whose Clermont in 1807 



222 TWENTY YEARS OF WONDROUS GROWTH (1800-20) 



CHAP. 
XII 



made a trip on the Hudson River from New York to Albany in 
thirty-two hours and returning in thirty hours. Within four 
years after the launching of the Clermont steamboats began to be 
built west of the Alleghanies, and by 1820 Western rivers were 
alive with this craft. Louisville now sometimes had as many as 
a dozen steamboats lying along her river-front, while at New 
Orleans there were sometimes as many as twenty. 



Emigration and Immigration 



Emigra- 
tion to 
the West 



Immigra- 
tion 



With the stimulus of cheap land and improved means of trans- 
portation the western movement grew stronger and stronger. On 
each of the highways to the West emigrants went out in great 
streams. During the hard times brought on by the embargo and 
the War of 1812 the emigration assumed a volume never before 
known. "Burdened with taxation," says McMaster, "deprived 
on a sudden of all means of support, in debt and liable at any 
moment to be imprisoned for being in debt, farmers, artisans, 
mechanics, tradesmen who had long been held on the seaboard by 
the flush times which preceded the war, now sold their possessions 
for whatever they could get and quitting the Atlantic States for- 
ever hurried away to find new homes along the shores of the Great 
Lakes or on the eastern slope of the Mississippi Valley. ' ' The road 
through New York was described as being thronged with "flitting 
families from the eastern States." On the turnpike to Pittsburgh 
a gate-keeper counted between March and December, 1817, two 
thousand families on their way to the West. The whole number 
of westward-bound emigrants passing through the gate during the 
same time was sixteen thousand. So large in volume did the 
migration become and so visible were its effects in the older States 
that in some places in the East there was alarm; it seemed that 
the seaboard communities would be depopulated. 

There was no good reason why the East should be greatly 
alarmed. For while the seaboard States were being depleted by 
the westward movement they were at the same time receiving fresh 
accessions of population from abroad. How many foreigners came 
during the period now under consideration cannot be accurately 
Btated, for no reliable statistics of immigration are available. A 
commonly accepted estimate places the whole number of foreigners 
who came to our shores between 1783 and 1820 at about 250,000. 



ALONG THE OHIO RIVER 223 

Of these fhe larger portion landed during the very years in which xii AP * 
Americans in such numbers were leaving their old homes in the 
East. After peace came to Europe with the overthrow of Napoleon 
the desolation made by the war, unemployment, and heavy taxes 
caused so much distress that thousands of Englishmen and Irish- 
men left the Old World to seek their fortunes in the New. From 
Belfast and Dublin and Bristol and London came ship-load after 
ship-load of carpenters and masons and weavers and blacksmiths. 
During the four years 1816-19 nearly one hundred thousand 
immigrants from Great Britain alone arrived in the United States. 
In the single year 1819 the number was nearly 35,000. Most of 
the new-comers landed in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, 
and it was in these cities they took up their abode. Thus, while 
native Americans were leaving the older States and filling up the 
West foreigners were swelling the population of the towns and cities 
along the seaboard. 

Along the Ohio River: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois 

We have seen that a considerable area north of the Ohio was 
settled before the close of the eighteenth century. 1 After land 
prices were lowered in 1800, the old Northwest filled up as if by 
magic, the home-seekers coming from all sections of the Union. 
Many came from the North — from New England, New York, and 
Pennsylvania — but the greater number came from the South. The 
number that left North Carolina and Virginia was so great that 
their departure became a matter of serious concern ; and in the 
legislatures of these States measures were urged to check the 
emigration. 

The result of the rush to the Northwest was within a few years Ohio 
to build up Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Ohio, naturally, was the 
first to attain Statehood. In 1802 Congress passed a law enabling 
the people of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio 2 to frame, a 
constitution for the government of the proposed State. Accord- 
ingly a convention met at Chillicothe, and drew up a constitution, 
which was accepted by Congress ; and in 1803 the Territory North- 
west of the Ohio was admitted as the State of Ohio. 

From Ohio the wave of settlement passed on to Indiana. Here 

'See p. 162. 
'See p. 166. 



224 TWENTY YEARS OF WONDROUS GROWTH (1800-20) 



CHAP. 
XII 



Indiana 



there was trouble with the Indians, just as there had been in the 
early days of Ohio. In 1811 the redskins under the leadership of 
Tecumseh entered into a conspiracy to drive all the whites out of 
Indiana. The tables, however, were turned upon the conspirators 
by the governor, General William Henry Harrison, who met the 
Indians in battle at Tippecanoe in November, 1811, and defeated 
them with great slaughter. After this battle the Indians gave the 
settlers but little trouble. With the red men out of the way and the 
steamboat plying upon the Ohio, land-seekers made their way to 
Indiana in great throngs. Towns and villages grew so rapidly 




Along the Ohio River: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois 



that people could hardly believe their eyes. In three years Vevay 
grew from a single log cabin to a well-built town with a court- 
house, school-house, and public librae, stores, hotels, and nearly a 
hundred dwellings. In the single year 1816 fourteen thousand 
settlers went into Indiana and found homes for themselves. By 
tnis time the Territory was ready for statehood; and in 1816 
representatives of the people, meeting at Corydon, then the capital 
of the Territory, framed a State constitution. As the weather was 
warm the sessions of the convention were held in the shade of a 
great elm-tree which at the close of the nineteenth century was still 
standing as a reminder of pioneer days. The work of the open-air 
convention was accepted by Congress, and Indiana was admitted 
into the Union in 1816. 



i 




ALONG THE OHIO RIVER 225 

While Indiana was growing so rapidly Illinois was also filling up xn AP ' 

with settlers. In 1809 Indiana and Illinois were separated, and 

Illinois was made a Territory with the old French town of Kaskas- Illinois 
kia as its capital. In Illinois the red men gave the settlers but little 
trouble after the Battle of Tippecanoe. During the "War of 1812, 
however, at Fort Dearborn on the present site of the city of 
Chicago, there was a terrible massacre of white men. 

Both Indiana and Illinois in their early days had to deal with Question* 7 
the slavery question. In the old French settlements slaves were 
still held in spite of the Ordinance of 1787. Moreover, slaveholders 
from the South often brought their slaves up into Indiana and 
Illinois. As a result the sentiment in favor of slavery was quite 
strong in these two Territories, especially in the more southerly 
sections. Yet there was a strong antislavery sentiment, for in the 
northern sections of Indiana and Illinois there were settlers from 
New England and New York, who resisted the efforts that were 
made to legalize slavery in the Northwest. In this effort they were 
assisted by Congress, which demanded a compliance with the terms 
of the Ordinance of 1787. 1 Illinois, accordingly, came into the 
Union in 1818 as a free State, just as Ohio and Indiana had come in 
as free States. 

Thus within thirty years after the landing of the "Pilgrim ^mddie 
Fathers of Ohio" at Marietta, three of our greatest States were West 
carved out of the original Northwest Territory. In each of them 
the growth in wealth and population was marvelous. Forests and 
swamps vanished from sight, and in their places there appeared 
smiling fields of wheat and corn. Hamlets grew to towns and 
towns to thriving cities. Population grew at a startling rate. In 
1800 the inhabitants of the entire Northwest numbered only a little 
more than 50,000. By 1820 the combined population of Ohio, 
Indiana, and Illinois was nearly 900,000. At the time of the 
admission of Ohio in 1803, its population was about 50,000 ; seven- 
teen years later the figure had jumped to nearly 600,000, and Ohio 
was more populous than Massachusetts. 

But only by hard labor and sacrifice and even suffering was the ^^sAddio 
wilderness transformed into a fit abode for man. Life in the west in 

Early 

Middle West a hundred years ago was not the pleasant, comfortable Times 
thing it is to-day. It was the plain, simple life of the pioneer 
farmer. "The farmer raised his own provisions; tea and coffee 
1 See p. 163. 



226 TWENTY YEARS OF WONDROUS GROWTH (1800-20) 



CHAP. 
XII 



were scarcely used except on some grand occasions. The farmer's 
sheep furnished wool for his winter clothing; he raised cotton and 
flax for his summer clothing. His wife and daughters spun, wove, 
and made it into garments. A little copperas and indigo, with the 
bark of trees, furnished dye stuffs for coloring. The fur of the 
raccoon made him a hat or a cap. The skins of deer or of his 
cattle, tanned at a neighboring tan-yard or dressed by himself, 
made him shoes or moccasins. Boots were rarely seen, even in the 
towns. And a log-cabin made entirely of wood without glass, nails, 
hinges, or locks, furnished the residence of many a contented and 
happy family. The people were quick and ingenious to supply by 
invention and with their own hands the lack of mechanics and 
artifices. Each farmer built his own house, made his own plows 
and harness, bedstead, chairs, cupboards and tables." * 



Around the Gulp of Mexico: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, 

Florida 



While a kingdom of wheat and corn was rising in the country 
north of the Ohio there was growing in the Southwest a kingdom 
of cotton and sugar. "By the side of the picture of the advance 
of the pioneer farmer bearing his household goods in his covered 
wagon to his new home across the Ohio must be placed the picture 
of the Southern planter crossing through the forest of western 
Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi in his family carriage with 
servants, packs of hunting dogs, and a train of slaves. ' ' 
Louisiana The story of the Southwest begins with Louisiana at the time it 

was purchased from France. Formal possession of Louisiana was 
taken in December, 1803, when William Claiborne, the governor of 
the new acquisition, after meeting the French officials in New 
Orleans and receiving from them the keys of the city, hauled down 
the banner of France which was waving over the city hall and 
raised the American flag. In 1804 Congress divided the great 
purchase into two parts. The part south of the thirty-third parallel 
of latitude — the present State of Louisiana — was given a separate 
Territorial organization and was called the Territory of Orleans. 
The heart of Orleans was New Orleans, a city of perhaps 8000 
inhabitants. The part of the purchase north of the thirty-third 
parallel, the wild and almost illimitable region that stretched 

1 Ford, "History of Illinois" ; p. 41. 



AROUND THE GULF OF MEXICO 227 

northward toward Canada and lay between the Mississippi River ^f { AP - 

and the Rocky Mountains, was assigned to the Territory of Indiana 

to be governed as the District of Louisiana. The largest settlement 
in all this northern region was St. Louis, still at that time only a 
little fur trading village. 

After Orleans was brought under American rule it flourished as s ^ is f!" 
never before. Planters moved down from the older States with Al ^ Ama - 
their slaves and brought under control the rich sugar and cotton 
lands of the lower Mississippi. New Orleans in a very few years 
became a city with a population of 25,000 souls. So rapidly did 
Orleans grow that by 1812 it had the number of people usually 
required for statehood; and in that year it entered the Union as 
Louisiana, the first State carved out of the Louisiana Purchase. 

Pioneers were now entering the Mississippi Territory, which had 
been organized in 1798, 1 and which by 1810 had come to include 
Avhat are now the two States of Mississippi and Alabama. Louisiana 
in its development had the advantage of an old French civilization 
upon which to build, but the Mississippi country at the opening of 
the nineteenth century was almost as wild and as desolate as it was 
in the days of Soto. After the defeat of the Creek Indians by 
Jackson, however, settlers poured into Mississippi so fast that by 

1816 the population of the Territory was 75,000. Application was 
made for admission into the Union, and this was granted; but a 
division of the Territory was made, the dividing line extending 
from the mouth of Bear Creek southward to the Gulf of Mexico. 
The part west of the dividing line was called Mississippi and in 

1817 was admited into the Union with Natchez as its capital. The 
part east of the line became Alabama Territory. But planters 
were spreading over Alabama as well as over Mississippi. In 1817 
a traveler fell in with two hundred and seven vehicles, twenty- 
nine herds of cattle, twenty-seven droves of hogs, and three 
thousand eight hundred people, all from North Carolina and all 
bound for the cotton lands of Alabama. Within two years Alabama 
had a population large enough for Statehood. Accordingly, in 1819, 
it joined the Union. By this time we had secured the possession of 
Florida through a treaty, an account of which will be given in the Florida 
following chapter. 2 In 1821 Florida was organized as a Territory, 

with Andrew Jackson as its first governor. 

*See p. 162. 
2 See. i>. 248. 



CHAP. 
XII 



Cotton the 
Reliance 
of the 
Southern 
Farmer 



228 TWENTY YEARS OF WONDROUS GROWTH (1800-20) 

Thus three States and a Territory emerged almost overnight 
from out of the wilderness which encircled the Gulf of Mexico. 
This phenomenal growth was due to an unprecedented demand for 
cotton. The industrial revolution which was wrought by the 
inventions of Kay and Arkwright and Watt 1 and which was 
changing the face of civilization in Europe had now reached 
America. In the United States as well as in Europe improved 
looms and spinning-machines were calling for greater and greater 




Statute Milea 



Around the Gulf of Mexico 



supplies of cotton. This cotton the Southern planters could fur- 
nish, thanks to Eli Whitney, who by the invention of the cotton-gin 
in 1793 made it possible for them to raise cotton with profit. 
Nowhere could cotton be cultivated with more profit than in the 
rich lands of the Gulf States. Accordingly slaves in great numbers 
were brought down to pioneer plantations of the South. From 
ten to fifteen thousand were brought every year from Delaware, 
Maryland, and Virginia ; and the greater the number of slaves the 
greater the yield of cotton. In 1810 the Gulf region produced 
1 See p. 97. 



ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI: MISSOURI 229 

5,000,000 pounds of cotton; ten years later the production was xn AP ' 

60,000.000 pounds. Slavery was now the mainstay of industry in 

the Gulf States, and the cultivation of cotton was the chief reliance 
of the farmer. Whitney's invention enormously increased the 
production of cotton, but at the same time it bound the South hand 
and foot to the system of slave labor. 

Across the Mississippi: Missouri 
The westward movement had not halted at the Mississippi even Meriwether 

x r Lewis and 

at the time when that stream was still our western boundary. It ^ 1 ^ am 
was the pressure of the pioneer quite as much as the action of 
diplomats that led to the great purchase. If there had been no 
purchase Louisiana would have been ours by the inexorable march 
of American civilization. Several months before the cession became 
an accomplished fact, Congress, complying with the wishes of the 
far-seeing Jefferson, appropriated money for the expenses of an 
expedition to Oregon. The expedition was placed in charge of 
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, both officers of the United 
States army. The explorers, leaving St. Louis in May, 1804, 
followed the Missouri to its source- in the Bitter Root Mountains. 
Then, making their way over mountainous country, they came to 
the head waters of a stream which took them to the mouth of the 
Columbia River. Thus the Pacific Ocean was reached by traveling 
westward across the United States, and something of the geography 
and resources of the Far West were made known to the world. 

The first practical result of the expedition of Lewis and Clark T ^ d g Ur 
was to open up the fur trade in the region beyond the Mississippi. 
Hunters and trappers followed the path blazed by the explorers, 
and by 1809 agents of the Missouri Fur Co. of St. Louis had set 
up a trading post upon the waters of the Columbia. Two years 
later John Jacob Astor, who had already made a fortune in the 
fur trade, established near the mouth of the Columbia a fur trading 
station which he called Astoria. British fur traders also were 
upon the scene, and soon there grew up a keen rivalry between 
American and British fur companies. 

The collisions between the American and British trappers quickly ^^ egon 
brought up the question of the ownership of the Oregon country, 
which at this time was claimed by Spain, Great Britain, and the 
United States. Spain claimed the region on the ground that she 
was the original and undisputed owner of all the territory west of 



230 TWENTY YEARS OF WONDROUS GROWTH (1800-20) 



CHAP. 
XII 



Missouri 



the Rocky Mountains. Great Britain as yet did not claim full 
possession of the Oregon country, but she did assert the right to 
fish in the waters of Oregon and to trade with the natives, for the 
right had been accorded to her by Spain. And what were the 
claims of the United States to Oregon ? First, there was the right 
of discovery. Before English eyes ever rested upon the waters of 
the Columbia, Captain Robert Gray of Boston in 1792 entered the 
mouth of the river and ascended it a distance of twenty-five miles. 
Then, Jefferson claimed Oregon for the United States because he 
regarded it as a part of the Louisiana Purchase. Furthermore, the 

expedition of Lewis and Clark was ad- 
vanced as supporting the claims of the 
United States. 

In order to settle their conten- 
tions for a time at least, England 
and the United States 
in 1818 entered into 
a joint occupation 
treaty by which it 
was agreed that any 
territory on the north- 
west coast of America 
that might be claimed 
by either power should 
be open for the period 

of ten years to the ves- 
The Oregon Country gelgj citizenS) and sub . 

jects of the other power. In the following year Spain by treaty 
relinquished to the United States all claims upon territory above 
the forty-second parallel of latitude. The retirement of Spain 
left England and the United States in joint occupation, and the 
Oregon question was temporarily settled; but only temporarily, 
for forces stronger than the agreements of diplomacy were at 
work in the Oregon country. These were "the American immi- 
grant, the American missionary, the Declaration of Independence, 
and the ox-team." 

The fur traders were quickly followed by planters who moved 
across the Mississippi and laid the foundations of Missouri. At 
the time Louisiana came into our possession the population of 
Missouri consisted of only a few thousand persons living in the old 




ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI: MISSOURI 231 

French settlements close to the west bank of the Mississippi. But ™ p ' 

soon the planters from the South began to come, and with them 

they brought their slaves. The traveler Flint has drawn a picture 
of the pioneer planter moving with his slaves into Missouri: "The 
cattle with their hundred bells; the negroes with delight in their 
countenances, for their labors were suspended and their imagina- 
tions excited ; the mistress and children strolling carelessly along 
in a gait that enables them to keep up with the slow-traveling 
carriage. Just before nightfall they come to a spring or a branch 
where there is water and wood. The pack of dogs set up a cheerful 
barking. The cattle lie down and ruminate. The team is unhar- 
nessed. The large wagons are covered so that the roof completely 
excludes the rain. The cooking utensils are brought out. The 
blacks prepare a supper which the toils of the day render delicious ; 
and they talk over the adventures of the past day and prospects 
of the next. Meantime they are going where there is nothing but 
buffaloes, to limit their range, even to the western sea." Settlers 
entered Missouri from almost every direction, for it could be 
reached by all the rivers of the Mississippi Valley. But early 
Missouri was in the main an overflow from the South, the emigration 
from North Carolina and Tennessee being especially large. Under 
such favorable conditions the settlement was bound to go forward 
at a rapid rate. By 1820 Missouri had a population of 70,000 and 
was ready for Statehood. Accordingly in that year she was admit- 
ted into the Union. The question of her admission brought up the 
question of slavery extension over which there was waged in 
Congress a fierce battle. An account of the struggle and of its 
outcome will be given in the next chapter. 

Thus by 1820 the frontier line had been pushed far out into the The 

.... p .... Changes of 

land beyond the Mississippi. As we follow this line in its receding twenty 
movement toward the setting sun, how marvelous appear the 
changes which took place in the brief space of two decades ! How 
different was the United States of 1820 from the United States of 
1800 ! In 1800 the area of our country was less than a million 
square miles; in 1820 it was nearly two million. In 1800 our 
western boundary was the Mississippi River; in 1820 we had full 
title to possessions which extended to the eastern base of the Rocky 
Mountains, while our claims included territory bordering on the 
Pacific. In 1800 the population of the United States was five 
million ; by 1820 it had doubled. West of the Alleghanies in 1800 



Years 



CHAP. 

XII 



232 TWENTY YEARS OF WONDROUS GROWTH (1800-20) 

there were barely half a million white people ; in 1820 there were 
nearly eight times as many. In 1800, with the exception of New 
Orleans, there was not in all the West a single collection of houses 
that was anything more than a village ; by 1820 Pittsburgh, Cincin- 
nati, Louisville, Nashville, and St. Louis had all risen to the rank 
of cities and were all flourishing centers of trade. And how great 
was the growth of the American Union during these years! In 
1800 the Union consisted of sixteen States; in 1821 it contained 
twenty-four States, nine of which were west of the Alleghanies. 




The United States in 1820 



The 

Course of 
Economic 
Progress in 
the West 



The Significance of the Frontiee 

It was in the upbuilding of the Western country during this 
period that direction was given to the course which economic 
progress in America was to take. The stages of the pioneer's 
advance were described by J. M. Peck, who was himself a most 
intelligent pioneer. "Generally," he says in his "New Guide to 
the West," "in all the western settlements three classes, like the 
waters of the ocean, have rolled one after the other. First comes 
the pioneer, who depends for the subsistence of his family chiefly 
upon the natural growth of vegetation called the 'range' and the 
proceeds of hunting. His implements of agriculture are rude, 
chiefly of his own make, and his efforts directed mainly to a crop 



THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FRONTIER 233 

of corn and a 'truck patch.' The latter is a rude garden for xii AP ' 

growing roasting cabbages, beans, corn for roasting ears, cucum- 

bers and potatoes. A log cabin and occasionally a stable and corn- 
crib, and a field of a dozen acres, the timber girdled or 'deadened/ 
and fenced, are enough for his occupancy. It is quite immaterial 
whether he ever becomes the owner of the soil. He is the occupant 
for the time being, pays no rent, and feels as independent as the 
'lord of the manor.' With a horse, cow, and one or two breeders 
of swine, he strikes into the woods with his family and becomes the 
founder of a new county or perhaps State. He builds his cabin, 
gathers around him a few other families of similar tastes and 
habits, and occupies till the range is somewhat subdued, and hunt- 
ing a little precarious, or, which is more frequently the case, till 
neighbors crowd around, roads, bridges and fields annoy him, 
and he lacks elbow room. The preemption law enables him to 
dispose of his cabin and cornfields to the next class of emi- 
grants, and, to employ his own figures, he 'breaks for the high 
timber, ' ' cleans out for the New Purchase, ' or migrates to Arkansas 
or Texas to work the same process over. The next class of 
emigrants purchase the lands, add field to field, clear out the roads, 
throw rough bridges over the streams, put up hewn log houses with 
glass windows and brick or stone chimneys, occasionally plant 
orchards, build mills, school-houses, court-houses, etc., and exhibit 
the picture and forms of plain, frugal, civilized life. 

"Another wave rolls on. The men of capital and enterprise 
come. The 'settler' is ready to sell out, and take advantage of the 
rise of property, push farther into the interior, and become himself 
a man of capital and enterprise in turn. The small village rises to 
a spacious town or city ; substantial edifices of brick, extensive 
fields, orchards, gardens, colleges, and churches are seen. Broad- 
cloths, silks, leghorns, crapes, and all the refinements, luxuries, 
elegances, frivolities, and fashions are in vogue. Thus wave after 
wave is rolling westward; the real el dorado is still further on." 

The economic aspects of frontier life were of no greater signifi- Front! 
cance than were the social and political aspects. While the pioneer Llfe 
was making wonderful changes in the material world around him, 
the frontier in turn was making profound changes in the social 
and spiritual nature of the pioneer. While struggling with the 
harsh and raw conditions of a savage environment he himself grew 
to be harsh and raw. But while the men of the early West were 



234 TWENTY YEARS OF WONDROUS GROWTH (1800-20) 

™ AP - losing in the graces and refinements of civilized life they were at 

the same time acquiring traits of character that have been of vast 

importance in the upbuilding of the American nation. For one 
thing, life on the frontier was entirely favorable to the growth of 
strong individuality. The pioneer led a lonely existence. Some- 
times his nearest neighbor lived twenty miles away. In this isola- 
tion he was not compelled to jostle elbows with his fellow-men, no 
glare of publicity beat upon his every action, no public opinion 
stifled his judgment. He was free to live his own life, think his 
own thoughts, and work out his own salvation. Such a man was 
pretty sure to be self -centered, self-assertive, and self-reliant — an 
ultra-individualist. 
Frontier Frontier life fostered the spirit of democracy. In the wilderness 

Life and ... . 

Democracy where there were no distinctions in rank or wealth there was 
generated that feeling of equality which is the essence of democ- 
racy. Every man was an individual who counted as one, but no 
man counted more than one. The frontiersman by every principle 
and implication of his being was a democrat ; he believed that every 
man should have a vote and that the majority should rule. He 
therefore could be relied upon to do his part in making the world 
"safe for democracy." The frontier States were all organized as 
democracies. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois all provided in their 
constitutions for complete manhood suffrage in their first consti- 
tutions, while the new States of the South gave the suffrage to all 
adult white males. 

The spirit Thus the West led America into the path of true democracy. 

of the West * / 

"The American spirit," says F. J. Turner, was developed m the 
new commonwealths that sprang into life beyond the seaboard. In 
these new western lands Americans achieved a boldness of concep- 
tion of the country's destiny, and democracy. The ideal of the 
West was its emphasis upon the worth and possibilities of the 
common man, its belief in the right of every man to rise to the full 
measure of his own nature under conditions of social mobility. 
Western democracy was no theorist's dream. It came, stark and 
strong and full of life, from the American forest." 

Suggested Readings 

Westward movement : Lippincott, pp. 138-148. 

Fulton's steamboat: McMaster, Vol. Ill, pp. 487-491. 

Life in the West in 1800: McMaster, Vol. II, pp. 144-146. 

Transportation, 1800-20: Turner, pp. 81-83. 

Spread of population in the Mississippi Valley: Semple, pp. 150-177. 



XIII 
AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 

Peace and Isolation 

TURNING from the rising young West, we may now take up 
the story of national affairs at the point where it was left off; 
that is, at the end of the War of 1812. 

The Treaty of Ghent gave to America the opportunity for a pacific 
lasting peace, and eagerly did the nation return to the pacific 
ideals of Jefferson. Within five years after the close of the war 
the regular army had been reduced to a negligible establishment 
of about 5000 men, while the combined annual expenditures of the 
army and navy had been scaled down to about $4,000,000, a sum 
much smaller than that now spent on armament in two or three 
days. The maintenance of a small armed force and the policy of 
avoiding war seemed to harmonize with the instincts of the Ameri- 
can people and with the avowed doctrine of their leaders. "If 
there be a duty," said John Quincy Adams, "binding in chains 
more adamantine than all the rest the conscience of the Chief 
Magistrate of the Union, it is that of preserving peace with all 
mankind — peace among the several States of the Union, peace in 
the hearts and tempers of our people. ' ' And it was not merely lip- 
service that statesmen gave to peace ; they actually kept the country 
out of war. After 1815 more than thirty years passed before the 
throb of the war-drum was heard in the United States. 

The Treaty of Ghent also marked the beginning of America's 
national isolation. Foreign affairs now occupied but a small 
share of the public interest. The very existence of Europe was 
almost forgotten, so intently were the minds of the people centered 
upon America and her illimitable possibilities. The American 
Union henceforth was to be a nation which was to pursue an inde- 
pendent course, free from the control or interference of the Old 
World. 

The consciousness of national isolation was accompanied by a {j^g'jj? 1 
feeling of self-reliance in industrial matters. After the War of dence 

235 



236 



AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 



CHAP. 
XIII 



The 

Invasion of 
English 
Manufac- 
tures 



1812 America looked less and less to the markets of Europe for 
supplies and more and more to her own home market. This 
tendency toward industrial independence was a consequence of the 
war itself. During the long period of commercial restriction and 
actual warfare foreign importations had been almost wholly ex- 
cluded from our ports, and vast sums of money that had been 
employed in the carrying trade had been rendered idle. Soon this 
idle capital was invested in mills and factories, with the result that 
manufacturing in the United States was stimulated to a high 
degree. Especially was this true of the products of the loom. In 
New England the number of spindles at work in 1810 was 80,000; 
in 1815 the number had increased to 500,000. In the manufacture 
of cotton textiles alone 100,000 men, women, and children were 
employed, and annually goods worth $40,000,000 were produced. 
In fact, by this time our cotton manufactures were rapidly over- 
taking those of England. 

Immediately upon the close of the war this prosperity was rudely 
checked. No sooner were hostilities at an end than England 
rushed into our markets as if to the attack of a fortress. In 
November, 1815, in one day there sailed into New York harbor a 
fleet of twenty English ships, laden with muslins, Yorkshire cloth, 
blankets, and silks. These goods were sold without regard to cost. 
Often they were disposed of by auction. "It was well worth 
while," said Brougham in Parliament in 1816, "to incur a loss 
upon the first exportation in order by a glut to stifle in the cradle 
those rising manufactures in the United States which war had 
forced into existence contrary to the natural course of things." 

Competition so fierce as this could not be met. The struggling 
industries of America were brought almost to a standstill. Peti- 
tions poured in upon Congress to come to the relief of industries 
which yesterday were flourishing and to-day were threatened with 
destruction. The aged Jefferson raised his voice in favor of the 
manufacturer. "We must now," he said, "place the manufacturer 
by the side of the agriculturist. Shall we make over our comforts 
or go without them at the will of a foreign nation? He, therefore, 
who is against domestic manufacture must be for reducing us 
either to dependence on that foreign nation, or to be clothed in 
skins, and to live like wild beasts in dens and caverns. I am not 
one of those ; experience has taught me that manufacturers are now 
as necessary to our independence as to our comforts." 



THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN NATIONALITY 237 

Congress was not slow in responding to the wishes of the manu- xm P ' 

facturers. In 1816 it enacted a tariff designed to protect the 

newly-established industries against the flood of foreign importa- ? he w"Jf r e ' 
tions. A duty of 25 per cent, was placed on woolen and cotton p^te^e 
goods, and protective duties were laid upon hats, carriages, leather s y^ em 
and its manufactures, rolled and hammered iron, paper, and sugar. 
Broadly speaking, the tariff of 1816 was not a revenue measure, 
nor was it a measure dominated entirely by the protective princi- 
ple; it was framed with the distinct purpose of assisting only those 
manufactures which had been built up during the war and which 
were threatened with destruction by the sudden influx of British 
goods. Still, this tariff may be considered as the entering wedge 
of the protective system. 

The new tariff of 1816 received the support of President Madison 
who was now avoiding clashes, and was desirous only of bringing 
his career to a peaceful and happy close. In this desire he met 
with no disappointments. "Madison," says Schouler, "left public 
station with applause; and the genuine esteem with which he was 
already regarded, after a long public career of unsullied honor, 
unswerving patriotism, and conspicuous usefulness to his fellow- 
men, gradually deepened into affection, if not reverence. . . . 
Madison could never go far wrong, for he never went counter to 
the sense of those he governed. ' ' 

The Growth of American Nationality 
When the time came in 1816 for electing a successor to Madison J, ames 

a Monroe 

the Republicans named as their candidate James Monroe, the last 
of the great Virginians, the best counselor of Madison, and the 
bosom friend of Jefferson. The Federalist party was now in a 
condition of utter demoralization. Its sad plight was due in no 
small degree to the Hartford Convention. As the members of that 
body had been Federalists, the Federalist party had to suffer for 
the doings of the convention. "Not only did the Convention," 
says F. H. Walker, "destroy the Federalist party beyond all 
possibility of resuscitation; but it proved to be the blighting of 
many a fair and promising career. Every man who took part in it 
was a marked man, and so far as the utmost rage of the Republican 
party and press could go he was outcast and outlawed politically." 
Thanks to Federalist inanition and decay, the Republicans in 1816 



238 



AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 



CHAP. 
XIII 



A Period of 

Political 

Repose 



A Union In- 
destructible 
and Indis- 
soluble 



had little or no opposition. In all the States but three — Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware — where the moribund Fed- 
eralists maintained a last desperate stand, the electoral votes were 
cast for Monroe. Four years later, when every vestige of Fed- 
eralism had disappeared, Monroe was reelected, receiving every 
electoral vote but one. 

With the collapse of the Federalist party and the close of inter- 
national strife the country settled down into a period of political 
repose. Now that there was no longer a British faction or a French 
faction, party politics fell into a stagnant condition. Monroe, soon 
after his inauguration on March 4, 1817, made a tour of the country, 
and wherever he went he found party spirit running low. Even 
in New England, where he might well have expected a cold shoulder 
from the Federalists, his welcome was warm and enthusiastic. 
' ' The visit of the President, ' ' said one of the newspapers of Boston, 
"seems to have wholly allayed the storms of party." Another 
newspaper, impressed by the harmony which seemed to prevail 
among all classes of people, characterized the time as an "era of 
good feeling." The phrase was universally recognized as fit and 
happy, and it was instantly seized upon to describe the period 
during which Monroe was President. 

The outburst of good feeling which greeted Monroe was due in 
part to the fact that the people felt that he was the official head of 
a great nation which was theirs. By this time the United States 
had become a nation : the ties of nationality were not yet very 
strong, it is true, but they held together a Union which was destined 
to be indestructible and indissoluble. Many things had worked 
together to produce this fabric of national sentiment. In the first 
place the Federal Government had acquired prestige and influence. 
The people had grown accustomed to its presence and power. For 
nearly thirty years they had been living under a national flag, had 
been using a national currency, had paid taxes into a National 
Treasury, and had been obeying national laws executed by national 
officers. The people, too, had learned that the National Govern- 
ment was for them a strong shield of defense. They had seen 
Indian uprisings put down, insurrections crushed, and conspiracies 
thwarted. They had passed through the "War of 1812 with its 
hopes and its fears, with its triumphs and its reverses, and had 
emerged from the conflict with the feeling that in the Union they 
had a common interest and a common destiny. The measures of 



THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN NATIONALITY 239 

the Republicans during their sixteen years of administration had ^j p - 

done much to strengthen the ties of nationality. The Republicans, ■ 

once they were in power, did many things that were in contra- 
vention of the decentralizing theories upon which their party was 
founded. Under Jefferson they caused the National Government 
to reach out its arm and take possession of Louisiana, an act which 
the great Democrat himself regarded as unconstitutional. Under 
Madison they established in 1816 a national bank (the Second Bank 
of the United States), notwithstanding the fact that Madison him- 
self in the early days of the Republican party had declared that 
the scheme for a national bank was "condemned by the silence of 
the Constitution and by its tendency to destroy the main character- 
istics of the Constitution." In short, by the time of Monroe the 
Republicans were drifting from their old moorings and were think- 
ing less about the State and its rights and more about the American 
Nation and the benefits that might be conferred upon it by a wise 
use of the Federal power. 

Another agency, and a powerful one, in promoting the growth The 
of nationality during this formative period was a series of remark- implied 60 
able decisions handed down by the Supreme Court of the United sustained 
States, the tribunal which gave "the mordant to the colors with 
which the national fabric was being dyed." Most of the decisions 
were rendered by John Marshall, who during his thirty-four years 
of service as chief justice strenuously upheld the supremacy of the 
Federal Constitution. One of the most far-reaching of his decisions 
was that delivered in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland. Here 
McCulloch, the cashier of the Baltimore branch of the Second Bank 
of the United States, resisted the payment of a tax imposed on the 
bank by a law of Maryland. The tax was upheld by the Maryland 
courts, but on a writ of error the case was carried to the Supreme 
Court of the United States where a decision was reached in 1819. 
The case revolved around the question of implied power. Had 
Congress the power to incorporate a bank? In the Constitution 
there was no expressed power to do this, but was the power there 
by implication? And did the doctrine of implied powers have any 
justification? To this Marshall replied in the affirmative: "The 
government of the United States though limited in its powers is 
supreme ; and its laws when made in pursuance of the Constitution 
form the supreme law of the land. There is no phrase in the 
instrument [the Constitution] which excludes incidental or implied 



240 



AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 



CHAP. 
XIII 



The Power 
of the 
.Supreme 
Court over 
Legislation 



What Is 
Interstate 
Commerce ? 



powers; and which require that everything granted shall be ex- 
pressly and minutely described. Let the end be legitimate, let it 
be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are 
appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end are consti- 
tutional." Thus the National Government was declared competent 
to exercise any implied power which might be necessary for the 
execution of an expressed power of the Constitution. Congress 
could incorporate a bank, the bank could establish branches within 
any State without its consent, and the State could not tax the 
branch thus established, for the "power to tax is the power to 
destroy. ' ' 

Another decision which had the effect of strengthening and 
exalting the National Government was that rendered in 1816 in 
the case of Cohens v. Virginia. Here Marshall decided that the 
Supreme Court of the United States could set aside the decisions of 
State courts and the laws of State legislatures whenever such 
decisions or such laws were found by the court to be contrary to 
the Constitution. In a previous decision — in Marbury v. Madison — 
Marshall had held that the Supreme Court could set aside and 
declare null and void a law of Congress if such law seemed to the 
court to be in conflict with the Constitution. The effect of the 
decisions in these two famous cases was to place in the hands of the 
national judiciary tremendous power. Henceforth the Supreme 
Court could veto absolutely any law whether State or Federal if 
the law in question seemed to the court to be unconstitutional. 

Still another far-reaching decision of Marshall's related to the 
subject of interstate commerce. The legislature of New York had 
conferred upon Robert Fulton and his patron Livingston exclusive 
rights of navigation within the jurisdiction of that State with 
vessels moved by steam. This franchise was contested in the case 
of Gibbons v. Ogden. Here the Supreme Court decided that the 
monopoly granted to Fulton was unconstitutional and void because 
it conflicted with the power given to Congress to regulate inter- 
state commerce. By this decision all the navigable waters of the 
country were thrown open to competition. The meaning of the 
word commerce was entered into: "commerce is undoubtedly traffic 
but it is something more : it is intercourse. It is the commercial 
intercourse between nations and parts of nations in all its 
branches." In the decision the power of the National Government 
over interstate commerce was declared to be full and complete, 



THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE 241 

extending not only to the commodities exchanged and to the chap. 

agencies of transportation but to the movements of persons as well. 

The influence which Marshall was exerting upon the process of 
nationalization was a source of apprehension and alarm to the men 
who were opposed to a centralized government. Jefferson in his 
last years never tired of belaboring the Supreme Court for what 
he regarded as its usurpations. "The great object of my fear," he 
said in 1821, "is the federal judiciary. That body like gravity 
with noiseless foot and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by 
step, and holding what it gains, is engulfing insidiously the special 
governments into the jaws of that which feeds them." But despite 
criticism and fierce opposition the Supreme Court continued to 
assert the power of the National Government and to uphold the 
supremacy of the Constitution. 

The Missouri Compromise 

At this very time when the stars in their courses seemed to be Early 
working together for union there arose a question which was full to P si°avery n 
of the seeds of disunion. This was the question of slavery exten- 
sion. We have seen that in the first years of the republic slavery 
in the United States seemed to be dying out. At the opening of 
the nineteenth century every State north of the Mason and Dixon 
Line had either abolished slavery or had taken steps that would 
lead to universal freedom. In the South, too, there was a strong 
sentiment against slavery. Before 1800 Maryland, Virginia, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia had all forbidden the 
importation of slaves, and in some of these States there were move- 
ments for the emancipation of the black race. Washington in his 
last will emancipated the slaves on his plantation. Thomas Jeffer- 
son was bitter in his opposition to slavery : early in his public career 
he had worked earnestly for emancipation, but in vain. 

When after the adoption of the Constitution the question of The First 

Fugitive- 
dealing with slavery came before Congress that body declared that siaveLaw; 

° J ° ~ .the Impor- 

it had no power in regard to slaves. By implication, however, it ^™ of 
could under the Constitution assist masters in securing the return 
of fugitive slaves. Accordingly in 1793 it had passed a fugitive- 
slave law, which remained in force fifty-seven years : by its terms 
a master or his agent might recover a slave by taking him before a 
Federal judge or a local magistrate, who without a jury trial could 



Slaves 



CHAP. 
XIII 



242 AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 

determine the question of ownership. Congress also under the. 
Constitution had the power to prohibit the importation of slaves 
after January 1, 1808. In 1806 Jefferson in his annual message 
reminded Congress of its opportunity, saying, "I congratulate you 
upon the approach of the period at which you may interpose your 
authority constitutionally to withdraw the citizens of the United 
States from all further participation in those violations of human 
rights which have been so long continued on the unoffending in- 
habitants of Africa, and which the morality, the reputation, and 
the best interest of our country have long been eager to proscribe." 
Congress responded by passing a law making the importation of 
slaves unlawful after January 1, 1808. The most conspicuous 
provision of the law was that henceforth the importation of slaves 
should be a felony punishable with death. 
The With the passage of this law Congress would gladly have washed 

Tallmadge , # ^ 

Amendment its hands of the slavery question forever. Southern members felt 
that slavery was a matter to be dealt with by each State as it might 
see fit, and Northern members as a rule acquiesced in this view. 
But it was impossible for Congress permanently to avoid consid- 
eration of the question. In 1818 a petition was presented to the 
House of Representatives praying for the admission of Missouri 
as a State. In February, 1819, while the bill was on its passage 
through the House, James Tallmadge of New York proposed an 
amendment which provided that further introduction of slavery 
into the new State should be prohibited and that all children of 
slaves born within the State after admission should be free when 
they became twenty-five years of age. The bill with the Tallmadge 
amendment passed the House, but in the Senate the antislavery 
provisions were stricken out. When the bill was returned to the 
House it refuseel to recede from its position. As it was now late in 
the session Congress adjourned, leaving the prayer of Missouri 
unanswered. 
The The question raised by the Tallmadge amendment was this: 

Slavery Was slavery to be confined , within the States where it already 
existed, that is, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Missis- 
sippi, and Alabama, or was the area of slavery to be extended? 
The amendment gave rise to a debate which was marked by great 
intensity of passion, especially among the Southern members, who 
were themselves slaveholders almost to a man. "If you persist," 



Extension 



THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE 243 

said Cobb of Georgia to the supporters of the amendment, "the xnf P ' 

Union will be dissolved." Looking at Tallmadge he exclaimed, 

"You have kindled a fire which all the waters of the ocean cannot 
put out, which seas of blood can only extinguish." The fire 
kindled by the debate soon grew into a blaze that crackled and 
roared throughout the whole land. In the North mass-meetings 
and State legislatures, including those of Pennsylvania, New York, 
New Jersey, Ohio, and even the slave State of Delaware, passed 
strong resolutions against the further introduction of slavery into 
the Territories and against the admission of new slave States. 
From the South came protests against slavery restriction as an 
outrageous violation of rights guaranteed to the States by the 
Constitution. 

Why was the North so bitterly opposed to slavery extension? N<!rthand 
Because it had its face turned to the West, and it did not enjoy the S^ag^ed 
prospect of seeing the Western country turned over to slavery. 
Accustomed to a system of free labor, it believed that freemen 
would not work side by side with slaves. And why was the South 
in favor of slavery extension? Because it, too, had its face turned 
to the West. Southern planters, as we have seen, were already 
crossing the Mississippi with their slaves, and they wished to 
continue to cross with them. Profit from the cultivation of cotton 
depended largely upon the ability of the planter to take his slaves 
from exhausted fields and put them to work upon virgin soil, and 
by 1820 planters foresaw that the time was not very far distant 
when most of the best land east of the Mississippi would be ap- 
proaching a state of exhaustion. The economic question raised by 
the Tallmadge amendment was this : Should the West be the scene 
of small farms owned and tilled by freemen, or a scene of planta- 
tions and slaves? There was a political as well as an economic 
question involved. Northern leaders saw that if the boundless 
West was to be built up into slaveholding States their influence in 
national affairs would disappear ; while to the minds of Southern 
leaders a free West would spell the doom of the political supremacy 
which the South had been holding and was bent on maintaining. 

When the Missouri question was taken up by the new Congress ^j S i s n e u ^" d 
in December, 1819, it was soon coupled with the question of ad- 
mitting the District of Maine as a State. This so-called "District" 
had just received from Massachusetts, of which State it was a part, 1 

1 See p. 29. 



244 



AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 



CHAP. 
XIII 



The First 
Compro- 
mise 



The Second 
Compro- 
mise 



permission to form a government of its own if its people desired 
to do so. As the sentiment of the voters was strongly in favor of 
separation, Maine promptly applied for admission into the Union. 
The House passed a bill admitting her, but when the bill came to 
the Senate that body voted to couple the admission of Maine with 
the admission of Missouri as a slave State. At first the House 
refused to accept this arrangement, but soon it was found impos- 
sible to consider the admission of Maine and Missouri separately. 
Southern members were unwilling that Maine should be admitted 
unless an enabling act for Missouri should be passed at the same 
time, and Northern men would not agree to any enabling act for 
Missouri which did not contain an antislavery restriction. The 
debate on the question was acrimonious in the extreme and threat- 
ened to be interminable. At last a compromise was agreed upon: 
it was decided to admit Maine on condition that Missouri should 
come in as a slave State and on the further condition that in all of 
the rest of the territory belonging to the United States west of the 
Mississippi and north of the parallel 36° 30' slavery should be 
forever prohibited. 

This compromise — the first Missouri Compromise — did not end 
the controversy or settle the question. Maine, it is true, was 
promptly admitted in March, 1820 ; but Missouri had to wait until 
her people had framed a constitution acceptable to Congress. 
When the constitution was submitted to Congress late in 1820 it 
was found to contain a clause that made it the duty of the State 
legislature "to pass such laws as may be necessary to prevent free 
negroes or mulattoes from coming to or settling in the State under 
any pretext whatever." This clause was extremely obnoxious to 
Northern leaders, who regarded it as in opposition to the clause in 
the Federal Constitution which declares that the citizens of each 
State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citi- 
zens in the several States. The House refused to pass the admis- 
sion bill with the objectionable clause, and a deadlock followed. 
The excitement over the Missouri question now broke forth again 
with increased intensity. Southern leaders charged Northern mem- 
bers with bad faith, accusing them of having secured the admission 
of Maine while still retaining the power to exclude Missouri. In 
order to check recrimination and relieve the situation of its asper- 
ity, Henry Clay and others effected a compromise — known as the 
second Missouri Compromise — by which Missouri was required. 



THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE 



245 



through her legislature, to declare that the objectionable clause ™£ F - 

should never be construed as giving authority for the passage of 

any laws by which citizens of any of the States should be de- 
prived of their rights under the Federal Constitution. This was 
acquiesced in, although in a contemptuous fashion. Accordingly, 
in the summer of 1821 Missouri was proclaimed as a State by 
President Monroe. 

Although the country was stirred to its depths by the Missouri ff^""^ 
question the settlement arrived at ought not to have caused sur- p^g* 
prise. At the time of the Missouri Compromise the line which 




The result of the Missouri Compromise 

separated slavery from freedom was Mason and Dixon's Line and 
the Ohio River. The establishing of parallel 36° 30' as the boun- 
dary line between slave territory and free territory was only 
extending westward a line of demarcation that already existed. 
Furthermore, in bringing Maine in as a free State to offset Missouri 
as a slave State, Congress was only following a well-established 
policy of preserving a balance between the North and the South. 
The admission of Kentucky as a slave State had been an offset to 
Vermont as a free State ; Ohio had been an offset to Tennessee ; 
Indiana to Mississippi ; Illinois to Alabama. This balancing of 
free States against slave States had been followed so regularly that 



246 



AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 



CHAP. 
XIII 



A Southern 



Northern 
Measure ? 



How the 
Compro- 
mise Was 
Regarded 



with the admission of Maine and Missouri the equilibrium was 
perfect : there were exactly twelve free States and twelve slave 
States. 

Nevertheless, the Missouri Compromise was by no means satis- 
factory either to the North or to the South. To vast numbers of 
Northern people the compromise seemed to be a surrender to the 
slave power, and among the lovers of freedom in the Northern 
States there were deep mutterings of disapproval. On its face the 
compromise was indeed a Southern measure, and the immediate 
advantage was with the South, for it gave that region an additional 
State at once, while another, Arkansas, would almost certainly be 
admitted in a very short time. Yet in the end the South lost by 
the compromise, for as an offset to the two or three slave States 
that might be organized south of 36° 30' there was room north of 
the line for seven or eight States. Furthermore, it was within the 
range of possibility that free States might arise south of the line, 
for there was nothing in the compromise to forbid this. 

It was a sincere hope of men in all parts of the country that the 
Missouri Compromise would settle the slavery question for all 
time. But far-sighted men indulged in no such illusions. To the 
mind of John Quincy Adams, the Missouri question was "a mere 
preamble — a title page to a great tragic volume." Jefferson, too, 
saw trouble ahead. "This momentous question," he said, "like a 
fire bell in the night, awakened me and filled me with terror. I 
considered it at once the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, 
for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence. 
A geographical line coinciding with a marked principle, moral and 
political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, 
will never be obliterated, and every new irritation will mark it 
deeper and deeper." It was not Peace standing on the Missouri 
line with healing in her wings that statesmen saw, but Electra with 
snakes hissing in her head and the torch of discord in her hand. 
Still, in spite of such misgivings, the compromise was accepted by 
all sections as a basis upon which slavery and freedom might 
henceforth live together in peace, and good citizens everywhere 
made it the rule of their lives to forget the slavery question and 
lull it to sleep whenever it cried out. For nearly thirty years the 
question slumbered. 



THE ACQUISITION OF FLORIDA 247 

The Acquisition of Florida 

While Congress was threshing out the Missouri question the c ,hap. 

executive branch was busy with the Florida question. Between 

1803 and 1819 the desire of the United States to possess the Floridas 
was so keen and persistent "that it amounted almost to a disease 
corrupting the moral sense of each succeeding administration." 
From the beginning Jefferson contended that West Florida was a 
part of the Louisiana which was ceded by Spain to France and 
that when the United States purchased Louisiana West Florida 
went with the purchase. The dispute which arose was with Spain, 
not with France ; for France had by the cession of Louisiana given 
up all her American territory, whatever it might be. 

In 1810, when an insurrection against Spanish authority took A™™*}" 
place in West Florida and threw the region into a condition of K'," 1 -'," 1 of 

1 _ ° Florida 

anarchy, Madison felt justified in asserting the American claims Asserted 
and directed the governor of Orleans Territory to take possession 
of the district between the Mississippi and the Perdido and govern 
it as a part of his own Territory. Spain protested but was too 
weak to offer effective resistance ; she could neither govern the 
region nor defend it, and it passed into the possession of the United 
States. A fierce diplomatic controversy raged over West Florida, 
but its acquisition was due less to the diplomats than to American 
pioneers who were pressing down into a region which physio- 
graphically belonged to the United States and which moreover 
was an integral part of the cotton kingdom that was rapidly 
encircling the Gulf of Mexico. 

But Americans also coveted the great peninsula of East Florida, East 
which also physiographically belonged to the United States. A 
reason for spreading the power of the United States over East 
Florida was furnished by the Seminole Indians. These wandering 
savages would rush up into Georgia, destroy property and human 
lives, and then return to their hiding-places in Florida. In these 
raids they were assisted by negro slaves who had escaped from their 
masters in Georgia. Spain was bound by treaty stipulations to 
restrain by force all hostilities on the part of the Indians living 
within her boundaries, but she did not restrain them; and Presi- 
dent Monroe took upon himself the task of bringing them to terms. 

In 1817 Andrew Jackson was sent against the Seminoles, and Arbuthnot 

, . ° ' . and 

they were severely punished. During the course of the campaign Ambrister 



248 



AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 



CHAP. 
XIII 



Spain Sells 
Florida 
to the 
United 
States 



The 

Boundaries 

of 

Louisiana 

Denned 



Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert Ambrister, both British subjects, 
were arrested and brought to trial on the charge of acting as spies; 
and as a result of Jackson's insistence they were ruthlessly exe- 
cuted upon suspicion rather than evidence. The scandalous treat- 
ment of these two men aroused such indignation in England that 
in the opinion of the prime minister "war might have been pro- 
duced by holding up a finger. ' ' But the affair quickly blew over. 

After reducing the Seminoles the American forces took virtual 
possession of Florida. Spain was informed by our Government 
that she must either govern the peninsula in a proper manner or 
' ' cede to the United States a province of which she retained nothing 
but the nominal possession, but which is, in fact, a derelict, open 
to the occupancy of every enemy, and serving no earthly purpose 
than as a point of annoyance to them. The duty of this Govern- 
ment to protect the persons and property of our fellow-citizens on 
the borders of the United States is imperative — it must be dis- 
charged." This was sharp language and its implications were 
severe. But Spain was powerless either to comply with the require- 
ments laid down by Monroe or to oppose him. Accordingly in 1819 
she consented to sell what she could not hold, entering into a treaty 
by which she formally ceded both East and "West Florida to the 
United States for a payment of about $5,000,000. Thus all claims 
of Spain to territory east of the Mississippi were extinguished. 

In addition to ceding Florida the treaty of 1819 defined a line 
of demarcation between the United States and Mexico, which at 
the time belonged to Spain. This was an irregular line running 
from the mouth of the Sabine River to the forty-second parallel of 
latitude and along that parallel to the Pacific, the United States 
renouncing forever all claims to the territory west and south of this 
line, and Spain in like manner relinquishing all claims to territory 
north and east of it. Thus the western boundary of Louisiana was 
now definitely marked out. The line did not give Texas to the 
United States, and for this reason the treaty was severely criticized 
by Clay and others; but Monroe would not insist upon Texas, for 
he feared that its immense possibilities for slavery extension would 
produce consternation among the antislavery people. The admis- 
sion of Missouri as a slave State was in his opinion as great a 
concession to the slaveholding interests as it was wise to make at 
the time. 



THE MONROE DOCTRINE 249 

The Monroe Doctrine 

The line of demarcation agreed upon by the treaty of 1819 chap. 

established the southern boundary of Oregon. 1 But what was the 

northern boundary of Oregon? It devolved upon Great Britain, The 

. . ' Advance 

Russia, and the United States to answer this question, and while of Russia 
diplomacy was trying to find an answer there came to the front an 
international issue of transcendent importance. Russia during the 
latter half of the eighteenth century had secured a firm foothold in 
the region now known as Alaska, and early in the nineteenth 
century the mammoth empire was extending its power southward 
along the western coast of North America. By 1812 Russians had 
worked their way down the Pacific coast as far as California where 
they built a fort. In 1821 the czar issued a ukase asserting 
Russia's right to territory along the Pacific coast as far south as 
the fifty-first parallel, and forbidding the vessels of other powers to 
approach within one hundred miles of the territory claimed. This 
was an encroachment upon the Oregon country, which, it will be 
remembered, was held at this time in joint occupation by Great 
Britain and the United States. 2 Both of these countries imme- 
diately protested against the imperial ukase. The American Gov- 
ernment declared its dissent in the strongest terms, informing the 
Russian minister in July, 1823, that ;< we should contest the right 
of Russia to any territorial establishment on this continent, and 
that we should assume distinctly the principle that the American 
continents are no longer subjects for any new colonial establish- 
ments. ' ' This firmness had its effect. Russia consented to a treaty 
by which she agreed to make no settlements on the Pacific coast 
south of 54° 40', the United States in turn agreeing to make no 
establishments north of that line. Thus the advance of Russia on 
the coast of the Pacific was checked. 

In announcing to Russia that the American continent was no £ofome S nish 
longer a place for new European colonial establishments our Gov- T h h e r Yok e ff 
ernment used bold language, but even a bolder and fuller expres- 
sion on the same subject was presently forthcoming. The advance 
of Russia upon American territory was connected with a larger 
problem with which Monroe had to deal. Early in the century the 
Spanish colonies of South America had begun to rebel and throw 

1 See p. 248. 
' See p. 230. 



250 



AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 



CHAP. 
XIII 



The Holy 
Alliance 



What 
European 
Interven- 
tion Would 
Mean 



Why 
England 
Opposed In- 
tervention 



off the yoke of the mother country, with the result that by 1822 
Chile, Peru, Buenos Aires, Colombia, and Venezuela had won their 
independence and had been recognized by the United States as 
free and independent states. But their independence was threat- 
ened by the so-called Holy Alliance, a combination of European 
powers formed soon after the downfall of Napoleon with the pro- 
fessed purpose of uniting the countries of Europe into a Christian 
brotherhood, but with the real purpose of perpetuating the power 
of existing rulers and preventing the growth of liberal political 
movements in Europe. All the sovereigns of Europe except the 
pope and the sultan of Turkey were invited to join the alliance, and 
the invitation was generally accepted. Great Britain, however, 
declined to join. 

In 1823 it was plain that the Holy Alliance was planning to 
intervene in South America with the view of crushing the new-born 
republics and restoring them to Spain. The scheme aroused the 
fears of our statesmen. What would be the result of the proposed 
intervention? What would happen if the infant republics should 
be subjugated by armies sent over from Europe? In the opinion 
of John Quincy Adams, Monroe's secretary of state, the results 
would be disastrous. California, Peru, and Chile, he thought, 
would fall to Russia; Cuba would go to England, for England at 
the time coveted Cuba ; and Mexico would go to France. Thus the 
United States would be hemmed in by three of the great nations of 
Europe, and genuine American growth would be dangerously cir- 
cumscribed. For these reasons Adams set his face firmly against 
the plans of the alliance, and urged the President to warn Europe 
against any attempt at intervention in the western hemisphere. 

Great Britain, too, was opposed to the plans of the Holy Alliance. 
Through the British secretary for foreign affairs, George Canning, 
a proposal was made that Great Britain and the United States 
jointly declare their opposition to the threatened interference. 
Why did England wish to prevent the restoration of the revolted 
Spanish colonies? Because there was much real sympathy among 
the English people for liberal government, and also because Eng- 
lish merchants did not wish to surrender the markets they had 
found in the newly-opened ports of South America. This com- 
merce had grown to be considerable in volume, but it would be lost 
if the old Spanish authority should be set up again ; for Spain, like 



THE MONROE DOCTRINE 251 

England herself, regarded colonial trade as an exclusive privilege £^ p - 
of the mother-country. 



Monroe took kindly to Canning's proposal for a joint declaration Monroe's 

P r otest 

against the threatened intervention, for he had consulted with 
Jefferson and with Madison and had found them both in favor of 
cooperating with England. "By acceding to her [England's] 
proposition," Jefferson said, "we bring her mighty weight into the 
scale of free government and emancipate a continent at one stroke 
which might otherwise linger long in doubt and difficulty. Great 
Britain is the nation which can do us the most harm of any one 
or all on earth ; and with her on our side we need not fear the whole 
world." But the case did not present itself thus to Adams. The 
sturdy New Englander did not want to see the United States throw 
itself into the arms of England. He stoutly insisted that the pro- 
test against intervention be made independently of England. And 
why? Because to join with England would be to entangle the 
United States with the affairs of Europe, and thus violate a well- 
established policy of American diplomacy. "The ground that I 
wish to take," he said, "is that of earnest remonstrance against 
the interference of European powers by force with South America, 
but to disclaim all interference on our part with Europe ; to make 
an American cause and adhere inflexibly to that." In the end the 
view of Adams prevailed; the protest was made independently of 
England. 

America's policy was announced in a message which Monroe 
sent to Congress on December 2, 1822. In the message the Presi- 
dent said : 

MONROE'S MESSAGE ENUNCIATING THE MONROE 
DOCTRINE 

It was stated at the commencement of the last session that a 
great effort was then making in Spain and Portugal to improve the 
condition of the people of those countries, and that it appeared to 
be conducted with extraordinary moderation. It need scarcely be 
remarked that the result has been so far very different from what 
was then anticipated. Of events in that quarter of the globe with 
which we have so much intercourse and from which we derive our 
origin, we have always been anxious and interested spectators. The 
citizens of the United States cherish sentiments the most friendly 



252 AN ERA OP GOOD FEELING 

x?n P " in favor of the liberty and happiness of their fellow-men on that 

side of the Atlantic. In the wars of the European powers in matters 

relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it 
comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are 
invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make 
preparation for our defense. With the movements in this hem- 
isphere we are of necessity more immediately connected, and by 
causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial 
observers. The political system of the allied powers is essentially 
different in this respect from that of America. This difference pro- 
ceeds from that which exists in their respective Governments; and 
to the defense of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of 
so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their 
most enlightened citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unex- 
ampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, 
to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United 
States and those powers to declare that we should consider any 
attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this 
hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the exist- 
ing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not 
interfered and shall not interfere. But with the Governments who 
have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose in- 
dependence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, 
acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose 
of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their 
destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the 
manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States. 
In the war between those new Governments and Spain we declared 
our neutrality at the time of their recognition and to this we have 
adhered, and shall continue to adhere, provided no change shall 
occur which, in the judgment of the competent authorities of this 
Government, shall make a corresponding change on the part of the 
United States indispensable to their security. 

The late events in Spain and Portugal shew that Europe is still 
unsettled. Of this important fact no stronger proof can be adduced 
than that the allied powers should have thought it proper, on any 
principle satisfactory to themselves, to have interposed by force in 
the internal concerns of Spain. To what extent such interposition 
may be carried, on the same principle, is a question in which all 
independent powers whose governments differ from theirs are inter- 
ested, even those most remote, and surely none more so than the 
United States. Our policy in regard to Europe, which was adopted 
at an early stage of the wars which have so long agitated that quar- 



THE MONROE DOCTRINE 



253 



ter of the globe, nevertheless remains the same, which is, not to x?ii P " 

interfere in the internal concerns of any of its powers; to consider 

the government de facto as the legitimate government for us; to 
cultivate friendly relations with it, and to preserve those relations 
by a frank, firm, and manly policy, meeting in all instances the just 
claims of every power, submitting to injuries from none. But in 
regard to those continents circumstances are eminently and con- 
spicuously different. It is impossible that the allied powers should 
extend their political system to any portion of either continent 
without endangering our peace and happiness; nor can anyone 
believe that our southern brethren, if left to themselves, would 
adopt it of their own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, 
that we should behold such interposition in any form with indiffer- 
ence. If we look to the comparative strength and resources of Spain 
and those new Governments, and their distance from each other, 
it must be obvious that she can never subdue them. It is still the 
true policy of the United States to leave the parties to themselves, 
in the hope that other powers will pursue the same course.. 

The policy outlined in this famous message became known as the The 
Monroe Doctrine. It is very properly called a " doctrine," for it the Monroe 

•■i-i • • ••in i- Doctrine 

has no prescribed sanction, and its assertion is left to the exigency 
which may invoke it. To the world to which the message was 
addressed the Monroe Doctrine meant in effect : 

(1) That the United States would not look with favor upon the 
planting of any new European colonies on this continent. 

(2) That the United States would not meddle in the political 
affairs of Europe. 

(3) That the governments of Europe must not meddle in Ameri- 
can affairs. 

The success of the Monroe Doctrine was immediate. It met with a Perma- 

. . nen t Inter- 

a warm response in American hearts, and it was received with national 

^ ' . Policy 

respect by the nations of Europe. The Holy Alliance abandoned 
its plan of intervention, and the nations of Europe ceased to look 
to America as a place for planting new colonies. It turned out 
that the doctrine was not the affair of a day. It had within it 
a principle of policy which was essentially permanent. ' ' The virtue 
of the Monroe Doctrine," says Admiral Mahan, "is that through 
its correspondence with the natural necessities of the United States 
it possesses an inherent principle of life, which adapts itself with 
the flexibility of a growing plan to the successive conditions it 
encounters. One of these conditions, of course, is the growing 



254 AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 

|hap. strength of the nation itself. ' ' To the far-seeing mind of Jefferson 
the doctrine "set the compass and pointed the course which we are 
to steer through the ocean of time. ' ' 

Internal Improvements: The Tariff 

internal Now that the plans of the Holy Alliance had been baffled, ques- 

ments tions of foreign policy fell into the background and domestic issues 

came to the front. A most important question related to the 
subject of internal improvements. Should canals and roads be 
constructed and watercourses improved by the National Govern- 
ment and at the expense of the National Treasury ? This question 
came up as early as 1808 when Gallatin made a celebrated report 
proposing a complete national system of roads and canals. But 
the embargo and commercial restrictions resulted in such a deple- 
tion of the national revenue that Gallatin 's scheme was indefinitely 
postponed: In 1816 the subject was revived when Calhoun reported 
a bill providing funds to be used in the construction of roads and 
canals. It was the duty of Congress, said Calhoun, to "bind the 
republic together with a perfect system of roads and canals. Let 
us conquer space. It is thus that a citizen of the West will read 
the news of Boston still moist from the press. The mail and the 
press are the nerves of the body politic." Calhoun's bill was 
passed, but when it reached President Madison it was vetoed on the 
ground that Congress had no power under the Constitution to 
undertake the proposed plan of improvements. This was also the 
view of Monroe, who in his first annual message stated his belief 
that the Constitution did not empower Congress to establish a 
system of internal improvements. He was, however, in favor of 
such improvements, and he recommended an amendment to convey 
the power. The Constitutional scruples of Congress were not so 
strong as those of the President : for in 1822 it passed a bill making 
The a trifling appropriation for repairing the National Road. Monroe, 

Road J faithful to his principles of strict construction, replied Avith a veto. 
Still the advocates of internal improvements continued to press 
their cause. In 1825 the eloquence of Clay secured the passage of 
a bill extending the National Road 1 to Zanesville. The act was so 
framed as to meet the constitutional objections of the President; 
and Monroe good-naturedly signed it on the last day of his official 
1 See p. 220. 



Extended 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS: THE TARIFF 255 

term. Thus, although the demand for internal improvements under xni P " 

national auspices was insistent, the actual achievements in that 

direction were small. 

Another domestic matter requiring a large share of attention £ )r D f nand 
during Monroe 's second term was the tariff. It will be remembered "Jfiff r 
that the tariff of 1816 had had some protective features. But it 
had failed to give the protection that was hoped for. English goods 
continued to be imported in large quantities, and American manu- 
facturers found successful competition impossible. Accordingly 
there arose a cry for higher duties, and along with this cry there 
was a demand that protection be adopted as a permanent American 
policy. The question was brought squarely before Congress in 
1824 when a bill was introduced increasing the duties on wool and 
woolen goods, on hemp, on pig-iron, and on iron manufactures. 

In the debate on the bill champions of protection were pitted Protection 
against champions of free trade. The protectionists were led by 
Clay. "Two classes of politicians," he said, "divide the people of 
the United States. According to the system of one, the produce of 
foreign industry should be subjected to no other impost than such 
as may be necessary to provide a public revenue ; and the produce 
of American industry should be left to sustain itself, if it can, with 
no other than incidental protection. According to the system of 
the other class, whilst they agree that the imports should be mainly 
relied on as a fit and convenient source of public revenue, they 
would so adjust and arrange the duties on fabrics, as to afford a 
gradual but adequate protection to American industry, and lessen 
our dependence on foreign nations by securing a certain and ulti- 
mately a cheaper and better supply of our own wants, from our 
own abundant resources. Both classes are equally sincere in their 
respective opinions, equally honest, equally patriotic and desirous 
of advancing the prosperity of the country. . . . We must speedily 
adopt a genuine American policy. Still cherishing the foreign 
market let us create a home market to give further scope to the 
consumption of the products of American industry. The creation 
of a home market is not only necessary to procure for our agricul- 
ture a just reward for its labors, but it is indispensable to obtain a 
supply for our necessary wants. If we cannot sell we cannot buy. ' ' 

The measure was opposed by Daniel Webster, who spoke for the Webster 

x x ^ A Opposes 

importers and the ship-owners, who regarded themselves as ham- Protection 
pered rather than helped by the tariff. "There is no foundation," 



256 



AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 



CHAP. 
XIII 



said Webster, "for the distinction which attributes to certain 
employments the peculiar appellation of American industry; and 
it is, in my judgment, extremely unwise to attempt such discrimi- 
nation. . . . Let it be remembered that our shipping employed in 
foreign commerce has at this moment not the shadow of govern- 
ment protection. It goes abroad upon the wide seas to make its 
own way, and earn its own bread in a professed competition with 
the whole world. Its resources are its own frugality, its own skill, 
its own enterprise. This right arm of the nation's safety, strength- 
ens its own muscles by its own efforts and by unwearied exertion 
in its own defense becomes strong for the defense of the country." 
The bill was also opposed by some Southern representatives on 
constitutional grounds, their argument being that the power to 
impose taxes and duties was given to Congress for the purpose of 
raising revenue, not for the purpose of protection. The protection- 
ists carried the day; the bill was passed, although in both the 
Senate and the House of Representatives the vote was close. 
Members from the Middle States and the West for the most part 
supported the bill, while those from New England and the South 
were for the most part against it. 



The End of Caucus Rule 



An 

Estimate of 
Monroe 



The 

"Virginia 

Dynasty" 



When Monroe signed the tariff bill of 1824 he was rounding out 
one of the most successful administrations in our history. Not a 
single cloud was darkening the retrospect. "Monroe's presidential 
career," says F. J. Turner, "descended to a close in a mellow 
sunset of personal approval. He had grown in wisdom by his 
experiences, and although not a genius he had shown himself able 
by patient and dispassionate investigation to reach judgments of 
greater value than those of more brilliant but less safe statesmen. 
Caution, fair-mindedness, and magnanimity were attributed to 
him by those who were engaged in bitter rivalry for the office which 
he now laid down. He was not rapid or inflexible in his decisions 
between the conflicting views of his official family ; but in the last 
resort he chose between policies, accepted responsibility, and steered 
the ship of state between the shoals and reefs that underlay the 
apparently placid sea of the Era of Good Feeling." 

The retiring President was the last of the "Virginia dynasty." 
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe — this was a group of men 



THE END OF CAUCUS RULE 257 

"who for ability, character, spirit, and purpose are not outshone xnf P ' 
and have no precise counterpart in any other company of illus- 
trious characters appearing in like space of time and similar extent 
of territory." But by 1824 the country was growing tired of the 
"Virginia dynasty" and there was a demand for new leaders. Of 
these the supply was abundant. As early as 1822 there were 
already sixteen or seventeen candidates for, the succession to 
Monroe. Gradually, however, minor candidates were dropped and 
by 1824 the only contestants for the Presidential office who suc- 
ceeded in getting any electoral votes were John Quincy Adams, 
Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, and W. H. Crawford, Monroe's 
secretary of the treasury. No Virginian even offered himself as a 
candidate. 

With the disappearance of the Virginia leadership there dis- caucus d ° r 
appeared also the system of nominating candidates by a Congres- Rule 
sional caucus. Crawford, it is true, was nominated in 1824 by a 
Congressional group which professed to be a regular caucus but 
which, in fact, was only a Congressional clique. Of the 261 sena- 
tors and representatives who composed the membership of Congress 
only sixty-six took part in the meeting which nominated Crawford. 
The others refused to participate for the reason that the old plan 
of nomination by a Congressional caucus was falling into disrepute 
and other methods were being adopted. Clay was nominated by 
the legislatures of Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, and Ohio; Adams 
by the legislatures of most of the New England States ; Jackson by 
the legislature of Tennessee, by a mass-meeting in Blount County, 
Tennessee, and by numerous conventions in various parts of the 
country. Everywhere people were ignoring the Congressional 
caucus and demanding more direct forms of nomination. Even the 
national convention was foreshadowed 2 for in 1824 the voters of 
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, declared in favor of a convention 
of delegates from all the States of the Union. They acknowledged, 
however, that the plan was "impracticable from the immense extent 
of our country and from the great expense necessarily incident to 
an attendance from the extreme parts of the United States." 

That the caucus system had received its death blow was revealed ™ e e ction of 
by the result of the election. Crawford, the caucus candidate, J°JP „ 
obtained less than one sixth of the electoral votes. But if Crawford Adams 
failed of election so did all the other candidates ; when the electoral 
votes were counted it was found that Jackson had received ninety- 



258 AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 

chap- nine, Adams eighty-four, Crawford forty-one, and Clay thirty- 
seven. Since no candidate had a majority it was necessary under 
the terms of the Constitution for the House of Representatives to 
decide - among the highest three candidates — Jackson, Adams, and 
Crawford. As a majority of States was necessary to an election, 
some one of the three had to secure the votes of thirteen 
States. Clay was ineligible for election; but he could throw his 
strength where he wished, and he threw it to Adams. When the 
vote of the House was taken, it was found that Adams was the 
choice of thirteen States, Jackson of seven, and Crawford of four. 
Thus Adams, having received the necessary majority of States, was 
declared elected. 

NOTES AND CHRONOLOGY 

[This matter is indexed. It does not include dates given or subjects treated 
in the main body of the text.] 

1793 Presidential Succession : Congress enacts that in case both the Presi- 
dent and Vice-President shall be unable to serve, the president of 
the Senate shall succeed, and then the speaker of the House of Rep- 
resentatives. 

1795 Yazoo frauds : In 1795 the legislature of Georgia granted lands to four 
associations, known as the Yazoo Companies, for $500,000. Esti- 
mated at 20,000,000 acres, the grant actually contained 35,000,000 
acres. Since virtually all the members of the legislature were 
interested in the transaction, there was a great deal of indignation, 
and in the following year the concession was annulled. In 1S02 
the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the contention that 
since the original grant was in the nature of a contract the legisla- 
ture in 179G acted beyond its power in annulling it. The lands 
were sold and a sum of $5,000,000 was appropriated for the pay- 
ment of the claims of those who held shares in the land companies 
concerned. 

1800 'Union of Great Britain and Ireland effected. 

Seat of the Government transferred from Philadelphia to Washington. 

1802 Congress passes a law establishing a military academy. 

1803 The blacks of Haiti are successful against the French, who are driven 

from the island. 

1804 First locomotive steam engine used on the Merthyr road in Wales. 
Stephen Decatur destroys the Philadelphia, which had been captured by 

the Tripolitans. 

1805 Nelson defeats the French and Spanish fleets off Trafalgar. 
Zebulon Pike explores the head waters of the Mississippi. 

Berlin Decree. (An edict issued from Berlin, November 21. ISOfi, by 
Napoleon I declaring a blockade of the British Islands, ordering all 
Englishmen in count ties occupied by French troops to be treated as 
prisoners of war, and forbidding all trade in English merchandise 
The decree was in retaliation against a British Onler-in-Council 
issued May 16, 1808, blockading the coasts of Germany, Holland, 
Belgium, and France from Brest to the Elbe.) 



NOTES AND CHRONOLOGY 259 

Zebulon Pike with a few soldiers explores the Louisiana country toward 
the southwest, ascending the Missouri and Osage into Kansas and 
proceeded south to the Arkansas, which they followed until they 
came to Pueblo, Colorado, where Pike gave his name to one of the 
highest peaks of the Rockies. 

Milan Decree. (This was issued by Napoleon on December 7, declaring 
as "denationalized," whether found in Continental ports or on the 
high seas, any vessel which should submit to search by a British 
vessel, or should touch at or set sail to or from Great Britain or 
any of her colonies.) 

The "Quids" nominate Monroe. This faction of the Republican party 
was led by John Randolph. 

York, Canada, captured by the Americans, April 27. 

British repulsed at Sacketts' Harbor. 

Slaughter of many men, women, and children at Fort Mimms by Creek 
Indians, August 30. 

General Harrison defeats British and Indians at Battle of the Thames, 
October 5. The chief, Tecumseh, is killed. 

General Jackson seizes Pensacola. 

"The North American Review" established. 

Wellington victorious at Waterloo. 

United States and Great Britain enter into an agreement limiting the 
armed force that each country shall maintain on the Great Lakes. 

Library of Congress. (Congress purchased the private library of 
Thomas Jefferson, consisting of 6,700 volumes, for $23,950. This 
was the nucleus for the present Library of Congress. After 1815 
an annual appropriation was made for the purchase of books for 
the library.) 

American Colonization Society was formed at Washington. (Its pur- 
pose was to encourage the emancipation of slaves by providing a 
place outside the United States to which they might emigrate when 
set free. Free negroes were first sent to Sierra Leone ; afterwards 
to Liberia, which declared itself an independent republic in 1847.) 

House of Representatives passes a resolution declaring that Congress 
has no power to appropriate money for the construction of roads 
and canals. (In 1823 Congress made the first appropriation for 
the improvement of rivers and harbors. In 1825 Congress author- 
ized the subscription of $300,000 to the stock of the Chesapeake & 
Delaware Canal. After 1861 both political parties recognized the 
power of Congress to appropriate money for internal improve- 
ments.) 

First passage of the Atlantic by steam ; the Savannah making the 
voyage between New York and Liverpool. 

The Dartmouth College Case is decided by the Supreme Court of the 
United States. (It settled the legal principle that a charter granted 
to a private corporation is a contract which cannot be altered 
without the consent of those who hold it unless the power of re- 
vision is reserved to the legislature by a clause in the charter or 
a general law of the State. Daniel Webster conducted the case 
for the plaintiff.) 

George IV becomes king of England. 

Benjamin Lundy begins to publish his "Genius of Universal Emanci- 
pation." 

Brazil proclaims her separation from Portugal. 



260 AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 

1824-25 Lafayette visits America at the request of Congress. (He was re- 
ceived with enthusiastic delight by the people and was presented 
with a section of land and .$200,000.) 
Bolivar made dictator of Peru ; the Spanish power in South America is 
completely destroyed. 

Suggested Readings 

Defeat of King Caucus : Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 125-141. 

Missouri Compromise : Turner, pp. 149-171 ; Gordy, Vol. II, pp. 407-444. 

Panama congress : McMaster, Vol. V, pp. 441-443. 

Monroe Doctrine : Turner, pp. 199-223 ; Gordy, Vol. II, pp. 484-496. 

Early protective movement : Taussig, pp. 08-108. 

Holy Alliance : Robinson and Beard, Vol. I, pp. 343-362. 



XIV 
THE JACKSONIAN ERA 

WHEN Monroe went out of office leaving the Era of Good 
Feeling behind him, the country entered upon a time of 
stormy politics which may fittingly be called the Jacksonian Era. 
During the sixteen years between 1825 and 1841 Andrew Jackson 
was the overshadowing figure in public affairs. 

Jackson the Man 

What were the characteristics of this man who exerted such a 
powerful influence upon his time ? We know the man well, for his 
robust and irresistible personality is the pleasing theme of a long 
and ever-lengthening train of biographers. No other American, 
not even Washington or Lincoln, has been written about so much. 

Jackson was a child of the frontier. He was born of Scotch-Irish a states- 
parents in North Carolina in 1767, but the greater part of his life Frontier 
was spent in the backwoods of Tennessee. As soon as his little 
hands were able to do any work he began to toil for a widowed 
mother. He went to school in a log school-house, where he learned 
the three R's. But he did not learn them well, for his early 
education was sadly deficient. He could not spell correctly and he 
could not write good English. In his early teens he caught the 
war spirit from the battles of the Revolution which were being 
fought around him. The youngster himself took part in the strife. 
"I was in one skirmish," he says, "and there they caught me, 
along with my brother Robert. A British lieutenant tried to make 
me clean his boots, and cut my arm with a sabre when I refused. 
After that they kept me in jail about two months, starved me 
nearly to death, and gave me the smallpox." When Jackson 
reached manhood he went to Tennessee and became a lawyer. He 
served as a public attorney and as a judge. But he never drank 
deep of the law, and he never acquired the judicial mind. In the 
rough customs of the frontier Jackson participated with zest. 
"He fought cocks," says his biographer, J. S. Bassett, "raced 

261 



A Man of 
Iron Will 



262 THE JACKSONIAN ERA 

^}y VP - horses, gamed if he felt like it, quarreled frequently, held himself 
ready to fight duels, and, when the occasion arose, indulged in 
oaths which were the acme of profanity. None of these things by 
the standards of the place made a man less a gentleman. They 
rather added to his standing; and inasmuch as Jackson excelled in 
all of these his standing was secure. His horses were the fastest, 
his cocks were the most noted, he would quarrel with none but men 
of distinction, and his great oaths became the despair of the young 
braggarts of the valley. " 

In 1796 Jackson, as the first representative from Tennessee, ap- 
peared on the floor of Congress, a "tall, lank, uncouth Jooking 
personage, with long locks of hair over his face and a cue down his 
back tied in an eelskin." Two years later he was in the Senate, 
where he came under the calm eye of Vice-President Jefferson who 
wrote of him : ' ' His passions are terrible ; he could not speak on 
account of the rashness of his feelings. I have seen him attempt it 
repeatedly and as often shake with rage." Jackson outgrew this 
roughness and violence, and in time his temper was brought under 
control and his manners became those of a polished gentleman. But 
he never overcame the violence of his own will. This was so strong 
that it was terrible : when he once determined to do a thing, he 
hurried on to its accomplishment, ruthlessly trampling upon friends 
and foes alike when they stood in his way. This inexorable will 
was always working for something that Jackson thought was right ; 
for he was always perfectly sure that he was right. "There were 
but two colors in the world for him," says J. P. Gordy, "black and 
white; white was his color and black was the color of those who 
disagreed with him. He was entirely right; his opponents were 
entirely wrong, and the case was so plain that he was sure they 
knew that they were wrong and only pretended to believe what 
they did not believe. Absolute submission to his will in relation 
to any matter on which he had set his heart was the price of his 
friendship." 

a Born "We have already seen Jackson as a warrior visiting his wrath 

upon the Indians of the Southwest, and overcoming the British 
through the skill of his generalship. But Jackson was more than 
a warrior. He was a born leader of men and a prince of politicians. 
In fact, in almost every relation of life his qualities were of the 
flaming sort. "Jackson," says Professor Burgess, "was ignorant 
and unschooled, indeed, but virtuous, brave and patriotic beyond 



Leader 



JACKSON'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST ADAMS 263 

any cavil or question; faithful and devoted in his domestic life, x"v ? " 

absolutely unapproachable by pecuniary inducements; earnest, 

terrible in the inflexibility of his purposes ; unflinchingly and reck- 
lessly daring in what he felt to be his duty ; hostile to all gradations 
of power and privilege; the military hero of the country." Such 
was the wilful, headstrong, forthright character who came out of 
the West to dominate the politics of the country at a critical period 
of our history. 

Jackson's Campaign Against Adams 

The period designated as the Jacksonian Era is made to include -puritan 
the years in which John Quincy Adams was President, and rightly, Blackleg" 
for the administration of Adams was little else than a political 
battle with Andrew Jackson and his friends. No sooner had Adams 
taken his seat on March 4, 1825, than he found himself the object 
of Jackson's enmity. The two men had long been friends, but 
friendship meant nothing to Jackson when it was an obstacle to 
his desires. The chief cause of his hostility to Adams was the 
appointment of Henry Clay as secretary of state. Here, declared 
Jackson, was a corrupt bargain : Clay had virtually elected Adams 
President and had done so because Adams had promised to give 
Clay the portfolio of state. Jackson was wholly wrong, as history 
shows ; no evidence has been found to substantiate his charge. Clay 
in the most sweeping manner denied that there had been a bargain 
of any kind for any purpose. The charge wounded Adams deeply, 
yet his own character was a refutation of it. John Quincy Adams 
was as honest and as straightforward as any man in public life, 
and was entirely incapable of making a corrupt bargain of any 
kind. His appointment of Clay was an act of duty ; he believed the 
brilliant Kentuckian would make a good secretary of state and 
would give strength to the cabinet. But Jackson got the belief 
into his head that a bargain had been made, and that was enough. 
He spread charges broadcast and made the country ring with 
denunciations of Adams and Clay, characterizing their political 
partnership as a coalition of the "Puritan and the blackleg." 

Jackson had another reason for opposing the Adams administra- Must hTv! 
tion : he believed that in fairness Adams ought never to have been 
elected. Jackson had received the highest number of electoral 
votes in 1824, and he felt that he was the people's choice. Whether 



264 



THE JACKS0N1AN ERA 



CHAP. 
XIV 



Democrats 
and 

National 
Republi- 
cans 



he received an actual majority of the popular vote or not cannot 
be determined, for figures showing the popular vote cannot be pre- 
sented and no statement indicating the will of the people at this 
election has any great significance. Whatever were the facts in 
the case, Jackson took it for granted that the outcome of the election 
had been a defeat of the popular will. He resolved, accordingly, 
that the people should have their will and that he should be their 
leader, a resolution that simply meant that he was going to have 
his own will. In October, 1825, he resigned his seat in the Senate 
to go forth as the people's champion. Announcing himself as the 
Presidential candidate for election in 1828 he went directly before 
the people and asked them for their votes. Thus the candidacy of 
Jackson was a thorn in the flesh of the Adams administration from 
its beginning to its end. 

During the Era of Good Feeling American politics ran along a 
single stream, the only party — if there was a party at all — being 
composed of those who called themselves Republicans. The en- 
trance of Jackson was bound to produce a division of parties on 
personal grounds. Soon there was a Jackson party and an anti- 
Jackson party. The Jackson men, claiming to be simon-pure 
Republicans of the Jeffersonian school, assumed the name of Demo- 
crats. In reality they did not constitute a new party with distinct 
principles; they were simply partisans of Andrew Jackson. They 
rallied around their leader, not because he was a thinker who enter- 
tained certain political views, but because they were drawn to him 
by his strong personal qualities. The anti-Jackson men rallied 
around Adams and Clay, calling themselves National Republicans 
and declaring themselves in favor of a protective tariff and a system 
of public improvements at national expense. In reality they cared 
little for party names or party principles; all they wanted was to 
prevent Andrew Jackson from coming into power. And all the 
Democrats wanted was to drive Adams from power. "As for this 
administration," said a prominent Jackson leader, "we will turn 
them out as sure as there is a God in heaven." "But suppose," 
replied an Adams man, "that they consult the public good and 
pursue a course that you think right?" "I don't care," replied 
the Jackson man, "for, by the Eternal, if they act as pure as the 
angels that stand at the right hand of the throne of God, we will 
put them down ! ' ' 



JACKSON'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST ADAMS 265 

The Jackson men opened fire upon the administration at the xf\ P ' 
earliest opportunity. Adams in his inaugural address announced 



himself in favor of internal improvements, and in his first message f n d t ams f nd 
to Congress he said : ' ' The great object of the institution of civil ^" p r? ve " 
government is the improvement of those who are parties to the 
social compact. Roads and canals are among the most important 
means of improvement. But moral, political, and intellectual im- 
provement are duties assigned by the Author of our existence to 
social no less than to individual man. For the fulfilment of these 
duties governments are invested with power." For this reason he 
urged Congress to multiply roads and canals, endow a national 
university, and make appropriations for scientific research and for 
the erection of an astronomical observatory, a ' ' light-house of the 
skies." 

To recommend such a program may indeed have been en- 
lightened statesmanship but it was political bungling. The recom- 
mendations, foreshadowing as they did a tremendous enlargement 
of the Federal power, gave the political shivers to all Republicans 
of the strict-construction school and furnished the Jackson men 
with a powerful weapon of opposition. The cry of Federal en- 
croachment was raised and was harkened to. The old-fashioned 
Republicans in Congress joined the Jacksonians, with the result 
that the administration was thwarted at every step. In the House 
Adams had a slight majority upon which he could rely, but in the 
Senate he was blocked. Not one administration measure of impor- 
tance was carried through by Congress during the four years that 
Adams was President. Seldom, in fact, during these years did 
Congress so much as vouchsafe a respectful consideration of the 
measures proposed. For the first time in our history the President 
was without a Congress, or, to say it in different words, he was 
without a party. 

While the President and Congress were thus at crossed swords ^ 
there was little opportunity for anything except wrangling and Missi ° n 
political jockeying. A vast amount of time was frittered away on 
the subject of the Panama mission. President Adams in his first 
message informed Congress that he had accepted an invitation to 
send delegates to a Pan-American Congress to be held at Panama. 
The chief purpose of this congress was to form a union of the new 
republics of South America which would be able to ward off any 



266 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 



CHAP. 
XIV 



An 

Unexpected 
Victory 



aggression that might be made by Spain or other nations. The 
plan was warmly supported by Adams and Clay, and largely for 
that reason was violently attacked in Congress by the friends of 
Jackson. The opposition, however, was not entirely factious; for 
one of the topics to be discussed at the proposed Congress related 
to the slave-trade, and Southern members as a matter of principle 
objected to submitting any subject of slavery for discussion by an 
international tribunal. Thus Hayne of South Carolina took the 
ground that slavery must be treated as a purely domestic question. 
"It concerns," said he, "the peace of our own political family and 
therefore we cannot permit it to be touched. Let me solemnly 
declare once for all that the Southern States never will permit any 
interference whatever in their domestic concerns, and the very 
day on which that unhallowed attempt shall be made by the federal 
government we will consider ourselves driven from the Union." 
Still, after an almost interminable debate a bill making an appro- 
priation to meet the expenses of a mission was passed. Two com- 
missioners were appointed, but they took no part in the congress. 
One of them died on the way to Panama and the other reached the 
isthmus after the congress had adjourned. Thus the Panama mis- 
sion came to grief. 

About the time Jackson's long campaign against Adams was 
drawing to a close the tariff question came up in a form that was 
extremely embarrassing to the Democrats. The North and West 
were demanding a tariff with high protective features while the 
South was setting its face firmly against protection. How were the 
Jackson men to frame a bill that would please all the sections? As 
a pretended solution of the problem they brought in a bill which 
carried the protective principle beyond any point it had yet reached. 
The duties on hemp, pig-iron, wool, coarse cotton and woolen goods, 
iron manufactures, sugar, and salt were so high that they were 
prohibitive. It was the belief of the Jackson men that the bill would 
not pass. If it should be defeated, and this was their hope, they 
counted on gaining votes for their chief by proclaiming from the 
housetops that they had introduced and defended a measure such 
as the protectionists desired. After a great deal of manceuvering 
for political advantage both by the Jackson men and the Adams 
men, the 1 > i 11 in an amended form was passed. The result was an 
unexpected victory for the Jackson men, for it turned out that the 



JACKSON'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST ADAMS 26? 

new tariff was acceptable in the Middle States and in the West, the £ha p. 

two regions upon which Jackson relied for votes. 

Nevertheless, the tariff of 1828 was a piece of bad legislation and The Tariff 

± ° of Abomi- 

is justly known as the Tariff of Abominations. In framing it Con- nations 
gress was guided by political rather than by economic considera- 
tions. "The bill," said John Randolph, "referred to manufac- 
tures of no sort or kind except the manufacture of a President of 
the United States. ' ' A member of the House speaking of this tariff 
in 1833 hit the situation off accurately when he said : "It was 
fastened on the country in the scuffle to continue the then incum- 
bent in office on one side ; and on the other to oust him and put 
another in his stead. . . . The public weal was disregarded, and 
the only question was: Shall we put A or B in the Presidential 
Chair?" 

The Tariff of Abominations was simply an incident in a Presi- AnExcit- 

a " mg Presi- 

dential campaign which was marked by more excitement than the dentiai 

r D " _ Campaign 

country had ever before known. When the time for the election of 
1828 arrived the anti-Jackson men who styled themselves National 
Republicans put Adams forward as their candidate, while the 
Democrats with a great flourish of trumpets announced Jackson 
as their leader. As far as personal qualifications for the office were 
concerned everything was on the side of the man who was already 
in the Presidential chair. But while Adams was a great statesman 
he was a poor politician. He had no intimate friends, his manner 
was icy and repellent, and it has been said of him that at every step 
he took, a foe sprang up. Relying upon his excellent record as an 
administrator he did almost nothing to strengthen himself with 
voters or politicians. He would contribute no money to a campaign 
fund nor would he go among the people and electioneer. Once when 
asked to exert his influence in the choice of a senator from one of 
the States he received the suggestion with indignation. All this 
was magnificent but it was not political warfare. Such a candidate 
could hardly hope to triumph over the dashing hero of the West, 
who, without being a demagogue, knew how to flatter the instincts 
and passions of the people, and who, too, had his virtues, and, what 
is almost as important, his defects. Adams, in fact, cherished no 
hopes of victory. He sniffed defeat long before election day. "He 
foresaw the fury of the blast and bared his breast to the tempest, 
not like a leader of men, but like a Christian martyr. ' ' When the 
agony was over he found that his honest and upright course had 



268 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 



CHAP. 
XIV 



been rewarded with eighty-two electoral votes, while his opponent 
received 178. The election showed in a striking- manner the grow- 
ing power of the West. Every State west of the Alleghanies cast 
its vote for Jackson. 



Jackson and the Offices 



A Friend of 
the People 



Office 
Seekers 



Jackson entered upon his duties in a whirlwind of popular 
applause. On the day of his inauguration, March 4, 1829, Wash- 
ington was crowded to overflowing with visitors shouting and hur- 
rahing for ' ' Old Hickory. " " By ten o 'clock, ' ' says an eye-witness, 
"the Avenue was crowded with carriages of every description, 
from the splendid barouche and coach down to wagons and carts, 
filled with women and children, some in finery and some in rags." 
"It seemed," relates another observer, "as if half of the nation 
had rushed at once into the Capital. It was like the inundations 
of the northern barbarians into Rome, save that the tumultuous 
tide came in from a different point of the compass. The West and 
the South seemed to have precipitated themselves upon the North 
and overwhelmed it." "To-day," wrote Webster, "we have had 
the inauguration. A monstrous crowd of people is in the city. I 
never saw anything like it before. Persons have come five hundred 
miles to see General Jackson, and they really seem to think that the 
country is rescued from some dreadful danger." These demon- 
strations were for the most part genuine expressions of confidence 
and affection. In his campaign Jackson had carried his candidacy 
directly to the voters, with the result that his election had brought 
the people and the Government together and had formed a partner- 
ship in which the people themselves were the partners. The people, 
therefore, had flocked to Washington to get a glimpse of a President 
who was of their own flesh and blood, of a Joshua who was to lead 
them into the Promised Land. 

But not all those who shouted for Jackson did so merely because 
he was their idol. Many of the hurrahs came from the throats of 
office-seekers. ' ' The vast popular army, ' ' says Ostrogorski, ' ' which 
marched triumphantly through the streets of Washington dispersed 
to their homes, but one of its divisions remained. This was com- 
posed of the politicians. The victory was due to their efforts, and 
as the laborer is worthy of his hire, they deserved a reward. By 
way of remuneration for their services they demanded places in 



JACKSON AND THE OFFICES 269 

the administration. They filled the air of Washington like locusts, chap 

they swarmed in the halls and lobbies of the public buildings, and 

in the adjoining streets, they besieged the residences of Jackson 
and his ministers. ' ' 

This clamor for office was not displeasing to Jackson. He was 
in all things a warrior. It was quite like him to regard a political 
campaign as a veritable battle of ballots. It was his doctrine that 
the victors at the polls ought to be rewarded with the offices, which 
he looked upon as the legitimate spoils of political warfare. When 
his followers came forward for their share in the Federal offices 
Jackson was only too willing to give them what they wanted. He 
began ,at once to turn men out of their offices in order to make 
room for his partisans. 

The rewarding of political friends and the punishing of enemies To the 
was not an unknown thing in American politics. In Pennsylvania Belong 

* the Spoils 

and New York a regular system of rewarding party workers had 
been established. "The politicians," said W. L. Marcy of New 
York, "preach what they practise; when they are contending for 
victory they avow their intention of enjoying the fruits of it. If 
defeated they expect to retire from office. If they are successful 
they claim as a matter of right the advantages of success. They 
see nothing wrong- in the rule that to the victor belong the spoils 
of the enemy." 

In the administration of the Federal Government there had been 
many removals for political reasons; but no former President 
swung the ax so vigorously as Jackson, who was hardly in office be- 
fore a general proscription began. Length of service and satisfac- 
tory performance of duties made no difference; men who had been 
working for the Government all their lives were dismissed without 
warning and without recourse. It is estimated that within a year 
more than two thousand persons were deprived of their offices. 

A wail of distress went up, and no doubt much suffering was Jackson's 

1 ' & Defense of 

caused by the sudden removals. Jackson, however, refused to the spoils 

" _ 7 7 System 

believe that those who were dismissed had any real ground of com- 
plaint, for they had, he said, the same means of obtaining a living 
that are enjoyed by the millions who never hold office. Far from 
thinking the spoils system wrong he defended it on the grounds of 
broad public policy. "There are," he said in his first message to 
Congress, "few men who can for any length of time enjoy office 
and power without being more or less under the influence of feel- 



270 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 



CHAP. 
XIV 



ings unfavorable to the faithful discharge of their political duties. 
They are apt to acquire the habit of looking with indifference upon 
the public interests, and of tolerating conduct from which an un- 
practiced man would revolt. The duties of all public offices are, 
or at least admit of being, made so plain and simple that men of 
intelligence may readily qualify themselves for their performance ; 
and I cannot but believe that more is lost by the long continuance 
of men in office than is generally to be gained by their experience. 
... In a country where offices are created solely for the benefit of 
the people no one man has any more intrinsic right to official station 
than another. Offices were not established to give support to par- 
ticular men at the public expense. No individual wrong is, there- 
fore, done by removal, since neither appointment to nor continuance 
in office is a matter of right. It is the people, and they alone, 
who have a right to complain when a bad officer is substituted for 
a good one." In accordance with this doctrine Jackson substituted 
bad officers for good ones in hundreds of instances, but the people 
did not exercise their right to complain. The spoils system was 
popular from the beginning ; so popular, indeed, that it was adopted 
by the Presidents that succeeded Jackson, and for more than fifty 
years Marcy's maxim was accepted as a proper rule for the guid- 
ance of incoming administrations. The result was that the offices 
at Washington were primarily party barracks. 



Jackson and Nullification 



Opposition 
to the 
Tariff of 
Abomina- 
tions 



Before Jackson had been in office a year he was brought face to 
face with the question of nullification. This question had come up 
in 1799 x and again in 1814. 2 But nullification had never pre- 
sented itself in such an ugly form as it assumed in Jackson's time, 
when in several of the Southern States there was a defiance of 
Federal authority which threatened the disruption of the Union. 
The immediate cause of the nullification movement was the tariff 
of 1828, the so-called Tariff of Abominations. 3 This law had in- 
curred the instant resentment and opposition of the South. The 
legislatures of South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Mississippi 
protested vehemently against the high duties and in some cases 
accompanied their protests with threats as to what would be done 
if attempts were made to enforce the obnoxious law. 

'See p. 180. 2 See p. 215. » See p. 2G7. 



JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 271 

The complaints were not without foundation. The policy of g* AP - 

commercial restriction in favor of domestic manufactures was sub- ■ 

jeeting the South to serious economic loss. The prohibitory duties Justifiable 

. ,, J Complaints 

on coarse cottons and woolens were especially onerous. The slaves 
were clothed in these fabrics, and since the South had no manu- 
factures of its own the planters were compelled to buy from North- 
ern manufacturers at a price 40 per cent higher than in the 
markets of Europe. This exclusion from the foreign markets 
appeared all the more unjust when it was considered that in 1830 
nearly three fourths of our agricultural exports and nearly three 
fifths of our exports of every kind consisted of the cotton and 
tobacco and rice which were shipped from Southern ports. That is 
to say, the section of the country which sold the most to foreign 
markets was deprived of any advantage which might accrue from 
buying in those markets. In the beginning the South had sup- 
ported the "American system," but now her people had come to 
regard the protection policy as unequal, unjust, and oppressive. 
"They certainly," says Theodore Roosevelt, "had grounds for dis- 
content. In 1828 the tariff, whether it benefited the country as a 
whole or not, unquestionably harmed the South." 

Resistance first showed itself in South Carolina, where the forces caihouA 
of nullification were set in motion immediately after the passage 
of the tariff of 1828 was announced. The leader of the nullifiers 
was John C. Calhoun, South Carolina's favorite son and the ablest 
spokesman of the South. Calhoun had entered Congress in 1811, 
where we saw him active in bringing on the War of 1812. For 
nearly forty years he was foremost among American statesmen. 
He was secretary of war under Monroe and was elected Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States in 1824 and reelected in 1828. In his 
earlier political career he was devoted to the Union and was a 
strong supporter of internal improvements and a higher tariff. 
But when it became plain that the tariff was bearing heavily upon 
the South he faced about and fought the protective system with all 
his might. As a champion of the South and a defender of the rights 
of the States he won the respect of friend and foe alike. His 
speeches were clear, forcible, and logical, and his power in debate 
was acknowledged even by the greatest of his opponents. 

When the excitement over the Tariff of Abominations was run- The south 
ning high Calhoun prepared a paper known as the ' ' South Carolina "Bxposi- 
Exposition." This declared that the Act of 1828 was unconstitu- 



272 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 



CHAP. 
XIV 



Hayne and 
Nullifica- 
tion 



tional and calculated to destroy the liberty of the country. What 
remedy did a State have when its interests were adversely affected 
by a Federal law? The remedy was "interposition." A State 
convention was to determine whether an act complained of was 
constitutional or not, and if it were found to be unconstitutional 
the State was to interpose and render the obnoxious law null and 
void. In respect to the manner of applying the remedy of "in- 
terposition" the "Exposition" says: "When convened it will be- 
long to the Convention itself to determine, authoritatively, whether 
the acts of which we complain be unconstitutional; and, if so, 
whether they constitute a violation so deliberate, palpable, and 
dangerous as to justify the interposition of the State to protect its 
rights. If this question be decided in the affirmative, the Conven- 
tion will then determine in what manner they ought to be declared 
null and void within the limits of the State ; which solemn declara- 
tion, based on her rights as a member of the Union, would be 
obligatory, not only as for our citizens, but on the General Govern- 
ment itself, and thus place the violated rights of the State under 
the shield of the Constitution." The "Exposition" was accepted 
by the South Carolinians as their guide. It was adopted by the 
legislature in 1828 and was printed promptly and circulated 
throughout the State as an official manifesto. 

The occurrences in South Carolina could not, of course, be 
ignored by the Government at Washington. In 1830 the question 
of nullification came up on the floor of Congress as an incident to 
a debate upon the disposition of the national domain. Senator 
Foote of Connecticut had introduced a resolution, the spirit of 
which was to limit the sales of the public lands. Nothing important 
came of the resolution, but the debate brought forth a distinct 
statement by powerful champions of the North and of the South 
upon the constitutional principles upon which the two sections were 
to diverge. The champion of the South was Senator Hayne of 
South Carolina. Calhoun could not take the floor, for at the time 
he was Vice-President and therefore the presiding officer of the 
Senate. It has been said that Hayne was "Calhoun's sword and 
buckler, and that he returned to the contest refreshed each morn- 
ing by nightly communions with the Vice-President, drawing 
auxiliary supplies from the well-stored arsenal of his powerful and 
subtle mind." But Hayne was competent to fight his own battles. 
Touching upon the subject of nullification, he declared in substance 



JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 273 

"that in case the federal government should make aggressions xiv^' 
which seemed deliberate, palpable, and dangerous violations of 
the rights reserved to the States under the Constitution, any State 
would be justified, when her solemn protests failed of effect, in 
resisting the efforts of the federal government to execute the 
measure complained of within her jurisdiction." 
Hayne was answered by Daniel Webster, the spokesman of the Webster's 

Reply to 

North. Webster was born in the same year as Calhoun, and had Hayne 
entered Congress two years after the South Carolinian first made 
his appearance in that body : for nearly twenty years the two men 
served in the Senate together. In their earlier career they were 
sometimes in agreement upon public questions, but now they stood 
at the opposite poles of political thought. Webster now was en- 
grossed in the defense of the Constitution which he regarded as a 
"kind of earthly providence surrounding us alike while we wake, 
and while we sleep, and assuring us blessings such as never before 
were enjoyed by any people since the creation of the world." "No 
man," he said, "can suffer too much, and no man can fall too 
soon, if he suffer or if he fall in the defense of the liberties and 
constitution of his country." Calhoun, on the other hand, was 
now caring less for the Constitution than in former years and was 
devoting all his energies to the defense of the rights of the States. 
Accordingly, when Webster replied to Hayne it was to his greatest 
antagonist, the presiding officer, that his remarks were really 
addressed. 

To the argument of Hayne that a State might decide for itself 
whether a law of Congress was contrary to the Constitution Webster 
opposed a flat denial. Only the Supreme Court of the United 
States, he said, had the right to make such a decision. "If each 
State," he asked, "had the right to final judgment on questions 
in which she is interested is not the whole Union a rope of sand ? ' ' 
And his denial of the doctrine of nullification was equally em- 
phatic. "I do not admit," he said, "that under the Constitution, 
and in conformity with it, there is any mode in which a State gov- 
ernment, as a member of the Union, can interfere and stop the 
progress of the General Government by force of her own laws under 
any circumstances whatever. I do not admit the jurisdiction of 
South Carolina, or any other State, to prescribe any constitutional 
•duty, or to settle the validity of the laws of Congress for which I 
have voted. I decline her umpirage." Webster saw in nullification 



274 THE JACKSONIAN ERA 

£^ p - the dissolution of the Union, and it was for the Union that he raised 
his voice in this speech of incomparable eloquence. 

Portions of his reply bearing upon the nature of our constitu- 
tional system are given below, with the peroration of his speech : 

WEBSTER'S REPLY TO HAYNE 
January 26 and 27, 1830 

There yet remains to be performed, by far the most grave and 
important duty, which I feel to be devolved on me, by this occasion. 
It is to state, and to defend, what I conceive to be the true principles 
of the constitution under which we are here assembled. . . . 

I understand the honorable gentleman from South Carolina to 
maintain, that it is a right of the State Legislatures to interfere, 
whenever, in their judgment, this Government transcends its con- 
stitutional limits, and to arrest the operation of its laws. 

I understand him to maintain this right, as a right existing under 
the constitution ; not as a right to overthrow it, on the ground of 
extreme necessity, such as would justify violent revolution. 

I understand him to maintain an authority, on the part of the 
States, thus to interfere, for the purpose of correcting the exercise 
of power by the General Government, of checking it, and of com- 
pelling it to conform to their opinion of the extent of its powers. 

I understand him to maintain that the ultimate power of judging 
of the constitutional extent of its own authority is not lodged exclu- 
sively in the General Government, or any branch of it ; but that, 
on the contrary, the States may lawfully decide for themselves, and 
each State for itself, whether, in a given case, the act of the General 
Government transcends its power. 

I understand him to insist that, if the exigency of the case, in the 
opinion of any State Government, require it, such State Govern- 
ment may, by its own sovereign authority, annul an act of the 
General Government, which it deems plainly and palpably uncon- 
stitutional. 

This is the sum of what I understand from him to be the South 
Carolina doctrine; and the doctrine which he maintains. I propose 
to consider it, and compare it with the constitution. . . . 

What he contends for, is, that it is constitutional to interrupt 
the administration of the constitution itself, in the hands of those 
who are chosen and sworn to administer it, by the direct interfer- 
ence, in form of law, of the States, in virtue of their sovereign 
capacity. The inherent right in the people to reform their govern- 
ment, I do not deny ; and they have another right, and that is, to 



JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 275 

resist unconstitutional laws, without overturning the Government. xrv P ' 

It is no doctrine of mine, that unconstitutional laws bind the people. 

The great question is, whose prerogative is it to decide on the con- 
stitutionality or unconstitutionality of the laws ? On that, the main 
debate hinges. The proposition, that, in case of a supposed viola- 
tion of the constitution by Congress, the States have a constitutional 
right to interfere, and annul the law of Congress, is the proposition 
of the gentleman : I do not admit it. If the gentleman had in- 
tended no more than to assert the right of revolution, for justifiable 
cause, he would have said only what all agree to. But I cannot 
conceive that there can be a middle course, between submission to 
the laws, when regularly pronounced constitutional, on the one 
hand, and open resistance, which is revolution, or rebellion, on 
the other. I say, the right of a State to annul a law of Congress, 
cannot be maintained but on the ground of the unalienable right 
of man to resist oppression ; that is to say, upon the ground of 
revolution. I admit that there is an ultimate violent remedy, above 
the constitution, and in defiance of the constitution, which may be 
resorted to, when a revolution is to be justified. But I do not admit 
that, under the constitution, and in conformity with it, there is 
any mode in which a State Government, as a member of the Union, 
can interfere and stop the progress of the General Government, by 
force of her own laws, under any circumstances whatever. 

This leads us to inquire into the origin of this Government, and 
the source of its power. Whose agent is it? Is it the creature 
of the State Legislatures, or the creature of the people? If the 
Government of the United States be the agent of the State Govern- 
ments, then they may control it, provided they can agree in the 
manner of controlling it ; if it be the agent of the people, then the 
people alone can control it, restrain it, modify, or reform it. It is 
observable enough, that the doctrine for which the honorable gentle- 
man contends leads him to the necessity of maintaining, not only 
that this General Government is the creature of the States, but that 
it is the creature of each of the States, severally ; so that each may 
assert the power, for itself, of determining whether it acts within 
the limits of its authority. It is the servant of four and twenty 
masters, of different wills and different purposes, and yet bound to 
obey all. This absurdity (for it seems no less) arises from a mis- 
conception as to the origin of this Government and its true char- 
acter. It is, sir, the people's constitution, the people's Government; 
made for the people; made by the people; and answerable to the 
people. The people of the United States have declared that this 
constitution shall be the supreme law. We must either admit the 



276 THE JACKSONIAN ERA 

xw P ' proposition, or dispute their authority. The States are, unques- 

■ tionably, sovereign, so far as their sovereignty is not affected by 

this supreme law. But the State Legislatures, as political bodies, 
however sovereign, are yet not sovereign over the people. So far 
as the people have given power to the General Government, so far 
the grant is unquestionably good, and the Government holds of 
the people, and not of the State Governments. We are all agents 
of the same supreme power, the people. The General Government 
and the State Governments derive their authority from the same 
source. Neither can, in relation to the other, be called primary, 
though one is definite and restricted, and the other general and 
residuary. The National Government possesses those powers which 
it can be shown the people have conferred on it, and no more. All 
the rest belongs to the State Governments or to the people them- 
selves. So far as the people have restrained State sovereignty, by 
the expression of their will, in the constitution of the United States, 
so far, it must be admitted, State sovereignty is effectually con- 
trolled. I do not contend that it is, or ought to be, controlled 
farther. The sentiment to which I have referred, propounds that 
State sovereignty is only to be controlled by its own "feeling of 
justice"; that is to say, it is not to be controlled at all: for one 
who is to follow his own feelings is under no legal control. Now, 
however men may think this ought to be, the fact is, that the people 
of the United States have chosen to impose control on State 
sovereignties. There are those, doubtless, who wish they had been 
left without restraint ; but the constitution declares that no State 
shall make war. To coin money is another exercise of sovereign 
power; but no State is at liberty to coin money. Again, the con- 
stitution says that no sovereign State shall be so sovereign as to 
make a treaty. These prohibitions, it must be confessed, are a 
control on the State sovereignty of South Carolina, as well as of 
the other States, which does not arise "from her own feelings of 
honorable justice." Such an opinion, therefore, is in defiance of 
the plainest provisions of the constitution. . . . 

It so happens that, at the very moment when South Carolina 
resolves that the tariff laws are unconstitutional, Pennsylvania and 
Kentucky resolve exactly the reverse. They hold those laws to be 
both highly proper and strictly constitutional. And now, sir, how 
does the honorable member propose to deal with this case? How 
does he relieve us from this difficulty, upon any principle of his? 
His construction gets us into it ; how does he propose to get us out? 
In Carolina, the tariff is a palpable, deliberate usurpation ; Caro- 
lina, therefore, may nullify it, and refuse to pay the duties. In 



JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 277 

Pennsylvania, it is both clearly constitutional, and highly expedi- 
ent ; and there, the duties are to be paid. And yet we live under a 
Government of uniform laws, and under a constitution, too, which 
contains an express provision, as it happens, that all duties shall be 
equal in all the States ! Does not this approach absurdity? 

If there be no power to settle such questions, independent of 
either of the States, is not the whole Union a rope of sand? Are 
we not thrown back again, precisely upon the old Confederation ? 

It is too plain to be argued. Four-and-twenty interpreters of 
constitutional law, each with a power to decide for itself, and none 
with authority to bind anybody else, and this constitutional law 
the only bond of their union ! What is such a state of things, but 
a mere connexion during pleasure ; or, to use the phraseology of the 
times, during feeling? And that feeling, too, not the feeling of the 
people, who established the constitution, but the feeling of the State 
Governments. . . . 

This Government, sir, is the independent offspring of the popular 
will. It is not the creature of State Legislatures. Nay, more, if 
the whole truth must be told, the people brought it into existence, 
established it, and have hitherto supported it, for the very purpose, 
amongst others, of imposing certain salutary restraints on State 
sovereignties. The States cannot now make war ; they cannot con- 
tract alliances; they cannot make, each for itself, separate regula- 
tions of commerce ; they cannot lay imposts ; they cannot coin 
money. If this constitution, sir, be the creature of State Legisla- 
tures, it must be admitted that it has obtained a strange control 
over the volitions of its creators. 

The people, then, sir, erected this Government. They gave it a 
constitution; and in that constitution they have enumerated the 
powers which they bestow on it. They have made it a limited Gov- 
ernment. They have defined its authority. They have restrained 
it to the exercise of such powers as are granted; and all others, 
they declare, are reserved to the States or the people. But, sir, 
they have not stopped here. If they had, they would have accom- 
plished but half their work. No definition can be so clear as to 
avoid possibility of doubt; no limitation so precise as to exclude 
all uncertainty. Who then shall construe this grant of the people? 
Who shall interpret their will, where it may be supposed they have 
left it doubtful? With whom do they repose this ultimate right of 
deciding on the powers of the Government ? Sir, they have settled 
all this in the fullest manner. They have left it with the Govern- 
ment itself, in its appropriate branches. Sir, the very chief end, 
the main design, for which the whole constitution was framed and 



CHAP. 
XIV 



278 THE JACKSONIAN ERA 

x"y p - adopted was, to establish a Government that should not be obliged 
to act through State agency, or depend on State opinion and State 
discretion. The people had had quite enough of that kind of gov- 
ernment, under the Confederacy. Under that system, the legal 
action, the application of law to individuals, belonged exclusively 
to the States. Congress could only recommend ; their acts were 
not of binding force, till the States had adopted and sanctioned 
them. Are we in that condition still? Are we yet at the mercy 
of State discretion, and State construction? Sir, if we are, then 
vain will be our attempt to maintain the constitution under which 
we sit. But, sir, the people have wisely provided, in the constitu- 
tion itself, a proper, suitable mode and tribunal for settling ques- 
tions of constitutional law. There are, in the constitution, grants 
of powers to Congress, and restrictions on these powers. There are, 
also, prohibitions on the States. Some authority must, therefore, 
necessarily exist, having the ultimate jurisdiction to fix and 
ascertain the interpretation of these grants, restrictions, and pro- 
hibitions. The constitution has, itself, pointed out, ordained, and 
established, that authority. How has it accomplished this great 
and essential end? By declaring, sir, that "the constitution and 
the laws of the United States, made in pursuance thereof, shall 
be the supreme law of the land, anything in the constitution or 
laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." 

This, sir, was the first great step. By this, the supremacy of the 
constitution and laws of the United States is declared. The people 
so will it. No State law is to be valid which comes in conflict with 
the constitution or any law of the United States passed in pur- 
suance of it. But who shall decide this question of interference? 
To whom lies the last appeal? This, sir, the constitution itself 
decides also, by declaring "that the judicial power shall extend 
to all cases arising under the constitution and laws of the United 
States." These two provisions, sir, cover the whole ground. They 
are, in truth, the key-stone of the arch. With these, it is a con- 
stitution ; without them, it is a confederacy. In pursuance of these 
clear and express provisions, Congress established, at its very first 
session, in the Judicial Act, a mode for carrying them into full 
effect, and for bringing all questions of constitutional power to the 
final decision of the Supreme Court. It then, sir, became a Gov- 
ernment, It then had the means of self protection; and, but for 
this, it would, in all probability, have been now among things which 
are past. Having constituted the Government, and declared its 
powers, the people have further said, that, since somebody must 
decide on the extent of these powers, the Government shall itself 



JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 279 

decide; subject, always, like other popular governments, to its ^ p - 

responsibility to the people. And now, sir, I repeat, how is it that 

a State Legislature acquires any power to interfere ? Who or what 
gives them the right to say to the people, ' ' we, who are your agents 
and servants for one purpose, will undertake to decide that your 
other agents and servants, appointed by you for another purpose, 
have transcended the authority you gave them?" The reply would 
be, I think, not impertinent: ''Who made you a judge over 
another's servants? To their own masters they stand or fall." 

Sir, I deny this power of State Legislatures altogether. It can- 
not stand the test of examination. Gentlemen may say that, in an 
extreme case, a State Government might protect the people from 
intolerable oppression. Sir, in such a case, the people might pro- 
tect themselves, without the aid of the State Governments. Such 
a case warrants revolution. It must make, when it comes, a law 
for itself. A nullifying act of a State Legislature cannot alter the 
case, nor make resistance any more lawful. . . . 

Direct collision, therefore, between force and force, is the un- 
avoidable result of that remedy for the revision of unconstitutional 
laws which the gentleman contends for. It must happen in the very 
first case to which it is applied. Is not this the plain result? To 
resist, by force, the execution of a law, generally, is treason. Can 
the courts of the United States take notice of the indulgence of a 
State to commit treason? The common saying that a State cannot 
commit treason herself, is nothing to the purpose. Can she author- 
ize others to do it? If John Fries had produced an act of 
Pennsylvania, annulling the law of Congress, would it have helped 
his case? Talk about it as we will, these doctrines go the length 
of revolution. They are incompatible with any peaceable admin- 
istration of the Government. They lead directly to disunion and 
civil commotion ; and therefore it is, that, at their commencement, 
when they are first found to be maintained by respectable men, 
and in a tangible form, I enter my public protest against them 
all. . . . 

But, sir, what is this danger, and what the grounds of it? Let 
it be remembered that the constitution of the United States is not 
unalterable. It is to continue in its present form no longer than 
the people, who established it, shall choose to continue it. If they 
shall become convinced that they have made an injudicious or 
inexpedient partition and distribution of power, between the State 
Governments and the General Government, they can alter that 
distribution at will. 

If any thing be found in the national constitution, either by 



280 THE JACKSONIAN ERA 

£^ p - original provision, or subsequent interpretation, which ought not 
to be in it, the people know how to get rid of it. If any construc- 
tion be established, unacceptable to them, so as to become, prac- 
tically, a part of the constitution, they will amend it at their own 
sovereign pleasure. But while the people choose to maintain it 
as it is; while they are satisfied with it, and refuse to change it, 
who has given, or who can give, to the State Legislatures, a right 
to alter it, either by interference, construction, or otherwise? 
Gentlemen do not seem to recollect that the people have any power 
to do anything for themselves; they imagine there is no safety for 
them any longer than they are under the close guardianship of the 
State Legislatures. Sir, the people have not trusted their safety, 
in regard to the general constitution, to these hands. They have 
required other security, and taken other bonds. They have chosen 
to trust themselves, first, to the plain words of the instrument, and 
to such construction as the Government itself, in doubtful cases, 
should put on its own powers, under their oaths of office, and sub- 
ject to their responsibility to them: just as the people of a State 
trust their own State Governments with a similar power. Secondly, 
they have reposed their trust in the efficacy of frequent elections, 
and in their own power to remove their own servants and agents, 
whenever they see cause. Thirdly, they have reposed trust in the 
Judicial power, which, in order that it might be trust-worthy, they 
have made as respectable, as disinterested, and as independent as 
was practicable. Fourthly, they have seen fit to rely, in case of 
necessity, or high expediency, on their known and admitted power 
to alter or amend the constitution, peaceably and quietly, when- 
ever experience shall point out defects or imperfections. And, 
finally, the people of the United States have, at no time, in no way, 
directly or indirectly, authorized any State Legislature to construe 
or interpret their high instrument of Government; much less 
to interfere, by their own power, to arrest its course and opera- 
tion. . . . 

I have thus stated the reasons of my dissent to the doctrines 
which have been advanced and maintained. I am conscious, sir, 
of having detained you and the Senate much too long. I was drawn 
into the debate with no previous deliberation, such as is suited to 
the discussion of so grave and important a subject. But it is a 
subject of which my heart is full, and I have not been willing to 
suppress the utterance of its spontaneous sentiments. I cannot, 
even now, persuade myself to relinquish it, without expressing, 
once more, my deep conviction, that, since it respects nothing less 
than the union of the States, it is of most vital and essential impor- 



JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 281 

tance to the public happiness. I profess, sir, in my career, hitherto, |ha p. 

to have kept steadily in view the prosperity and honor of the whole 

country, and the preservation of our Federal Union. It is to that 
Union we owe our safety at home, and our consideration and dig- 
nity abroad. It is to that Union that we are chiefly indebted for 
whatever makes us most proud of our country. That Union we 
reached only by the discipline of our virtues in the severe school 
of adversity. It had its origin in the necessities of disordered 
finance, prostrate commerce, and ruined credit. Under its benign 
influences, these great interests immediately awoke, as from the 
dead, and sprang forth with newness of life. Every year of its 
duration has teemed with fresh proofs of its utility and its bless- 
ings; and, although our territory has stretched out wider and 
wider, and our population spread farther and farther, they have 
not outrun its protection or its benefits. It has been to us all a 
copious fountain of national, social, and personal happiness. I 
have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond the Union, to see what 
might lie hidden in the dark recess behind. I have not coolly 
weighed the chances of preserving liberty, when the bonds that 
unite us together shall be broken asunder. I have not accustomed 
myself to hang over the precipice of disunion, to see whether, with 
my short sight, I can fathom the depth of the abyss below; nor 
could I regard him as a safe counsellor, in the affairs of this Gov- 
ernment, whose thoughts should be mainly bent on considering, 
not how the Union should be best preserved, but how tolerable 
might be the condition of the people when it shall be broken up 
and destroyed. While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, 
gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our children. 
Beyond that, I seek not to penetrate the veil. God grant that, in 
my day, at least, that curtain may not rise. God grant that, on 
my vision, never may be opened what lies behind. When my eyes 
shall be turned to behold, for the last time, the sun in heaven, may 
I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of 
a once glorious Union ; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent ; 
on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal 
blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance, rather, behold 
the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known and honored 
throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies 
streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe erased or polluted, 
nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable 
interrogatory as, What is all this worth ? Nor those other words of 
delusion and folly, Liberty first, and Union afterwards : but every 
where, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all 



L>S2 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 



CHAP. 
XIV 



its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and 
in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear 
to every true American heart — Liberty and Union, now and for- 
ever, one and inseparable ! 



"Our 
Federal 
Union ; It 
Must Be 
Preserved" 



The Tariff 
of 1832 



South 
Carolina 
Declares 
for Nullifi- 
cation 



The nullification leaders believed in the beginning that they 
would have the support of Jackson ; but they soon found that they 
were mistaken in their man. On the occasion of a Jefferson birth- 
day banquet held on April 13, 1830, a few weeks after Webster's 
great speech, Jackson declared against the nullifiers in a manner 
that could not be misunderstood. The main purpose of the ban- 
quet was to draw from Jackson and his secretaries opinions and 
expressions which the nullifiers hoped would be favorable to their 
cause. A rude shock awaited them. When it came Jackson's turn 
to volunteer a sentiment he proposed the toast: "Our Federal 
Union: it must be preserved." This thrilling challenge spread dis- 
may over the faces of the nullifiers present, yet Calhoun, attempt- 
ing to rally his forces, answered : "The Union, next to our liberty, 
the most dear; may we all remember that it can only be preserved 
by respecting the rights of the States and distributing equally the 
benefit and burdens of Union." The issue was now clearly made 
up so far as Jackson and the nullifiers were concerned, and the 
country knew what to expect from the administration if an attempt 
should be made to put nullification into practice. 

Since the tariff was the cause of most of the irritation, Congress, 
in 1832, wishing to placate the nullifiers, overhauled the Tariff of 
Abominations, reducing some of the obnoxious duties, especially 
those on plantation supplies. But inasmuch as the reductions were 
not accompanied by any important modification of the protective 
system the South was not placated. Upon the passage of the act 
the members of Congress from South Carolina drew up a formal 
protest declaring "that all hope of relief from Congress was irrev- 
ocably gone, that protection must henceforth be regarded as the 
settled policy of the country, and that the people of South Carolina 
must decide whether their rights and liberties were to be tamely 
surrendered without a struggle or transmitted undiminished to 
their posterity." 

South Carolina was ready for a struggle. She immediately pre- 
pared for a practical application of Calhoun's doctrine of "inter- 
position." Tier legislature called a convention which met at 



JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 283 

Columbia and declared in November, 1832, that the tariff acts of £|^ AP - 

1828 and 1832 were void and that they need not be observed by 

the citizens or officers of the State. Following the doctrine of 
nullification to its logical conclusion the convention went on to 
declare: "We, the people of South Carolina, to the end that it 
may be fully understood by the Government of the United States, 
and the people of the co-States, that we are determined to maintain 
this, our ordinance and declaration, at every hazard, do further 
declare that we will not submit to the application of force, on the 
part of the Federal Government, to reduce this State to obedi- 
ence; but that we will consider the passage, by Congress, of any 
act authorizing the employment of a military or naval force against 
the State of South Carolina, her constituted authorities or citizens, 
as inconsistent with the longer continuance of South Carolina in 
the Union : and that the people of this State will thenceforth hold 
themselves absolved from all further obligation to maintain or pre- 
serve their political connexion with the people of the other States, 
and will forthwith proceed to organize a separate government, and 
do all other acts and things which sovereign and independent States 
may of right do. ' ' In order to show that these were something more 
than idle words the State armed itself and prepared for war. 

If the people of South Carolina imagined that Jackson would ^ ks t he 
allow a State to nullify a Federal law "their eyes must have been Nuiimers 
holden that they could not see." As soon as the ordinance of 
nullification was promulgated came a proclamation from Jackson 
against nullification. In this ringing utterance he said to the 
people of South Carolina: "I consider the power to annul a law 
of the United States, assumed by one State, incompatible with the 
existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the 
Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every 
principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great 
object for which it was formed." In kindly language he warned 
the South Carolinians of the danger which was ahead. "Let me 
not only admonish you as the First Magistrate of our common coun- 
try not to incur the penalty of its laws, but use the influence that 
a father would over his children whom he saw rushing to certain 
ruin. The laws of the United States must be executed. Those 
who told you that you might peaceably prevent their execution 
deceived you. Their object is disunion. Disunion by armed force 
is treason. Are you really ready to incur its guilt ? ' ' Jackson was 



284 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 



CHAP. 
XIV 



A Compro- 
mise Tariff 



terribly in earnest. "If force should be necessary," he wrote, "I 
will have 40,000 men in South Carolina to put down resistance and 
enforce the law." If matters went too far he had it in mind to 
hang Calhoun "higher than Haman." In his plans for resisting 
nullification he was supported by Congress, for at his request there 
was quickly passed what is known as the Force Bill, a measure 
which gave the President the power to use the army and navy in 
the execution of the tariff laws. 

But the necessity for resorting to force did not arise. Under 
the leadership of Clay a new tariff law giving South Carolina much, 
although not all, that she demanded was hurriedly passed in March, 
1833. This compromise tariff provided for a gradual reduction of 
rates so that by 1842 there should be a uniform duty of 20 per cent 
upon all dutiable articles, and no article thereafter should be subject 
to a higher rate than 20 per cent. As this concession was satis- 
factory to the South, the nullification movement came to an end. 
The South never again resorted to nullification, although it had 
something worse in store. 



Jackson and the Bank 



Jackson a 
Candidate 
for a 
Second 
Term 



Jackson's 
Hostility to 
the Bank 



At the very time when the nullification cloud was assuming its 
most threatening aspects Jackson was asking the people for a second 
term. As a matter of principle he believed it was undemocratic 
for a President to hold more than one term. In his messages to 
Congress he repeatedly urged that the Constitution be amended 
so as to limit the eligibility of the President to a single term of 
four or six years. But the amendment did not materialize and 
when the question of a second term arose in 1832 Jackson was not 
prevented by his political scruples from accepting a nomination. 

In truth, Jackson was not ready to retire to private life; for he 
had not yet accomplished one of the cherished purposes of his heart, 
namely, the destruction of the Bank of the United States, an insti- 
tution which in 1816 had been chartered for a period of twenty 
years and which was expecting to be rechartered in 1836. Jack- 
son's opposition to this bank was shown in his first message where 
he charged that some of the chief purposes for which the bank 
was founded had not been accomplished. His hostility increased 
year by year until he finally came to hate the bank so bitterly that 
it was said that he would sometimes choke when he uttered its 






JACKSON AND THE BANK 285 

name. This attitude was due in part to a belief that the bank was S^ AP - 



a monopolistic institution with no constitutional standing and in 
part to the fact that some of the officials of the bank had presumed 
to cross the President in his political purposes. 

In 1832, the bank applied to Congress for a renewal of its char- Jackson 

. . . and the 

ter and a new charter renewal bill was passed. Jackson used his supreme 
veto, and the bank controversy became furious. In the veto mes- 
sage it was alleged that the privileges granted to the bank were 
monopolistic in character and that the bank itself was unconstitu- 
tional. It was true that the Supreme Court had upheld the con- 
stitutionality of such a bank, but this made no difference to Jack- 
son. He contended that an opinion of the Supreme Court did not 
preclude the President from expressing an opinion on the same 
subject. "The Congress, the Executive, and the Court must each 
for itself be guided by its own opinion of the Constitution. Each 
public officer who takes an oath to support the Constitution swears 
that he will support it as he understands it and not as it is under- 
stood by others. It is as much the duty of the House of Represen- 
tatives, of the Senate, and of the President to decide upon the 
constitutionality of any bill or resolution which may be presented 
to them for passage or approval as it is of the Supreme Judges 
whom it may be brought before for judicial decision. The opinion 
of the Judges has no more authority over Congress than the opinion 
of Congress has over the Judges, and on that point the President 
is independent of both. The authority of the Supreme Court must 
not therefore be permitted to control the Congress and the Execu- 
tive when acting in their legislative capacity, but to have only 
such influence as the force of their reasoning may have. ' ' 

The radical language of the veto pleased the friends of the bank, "A Mani- 

... f esto of 

for they believed it would make converts for their side. Nicholas Anarchy" 

Biddle, the president of the bank, said of the veto: "It has all 
the fury of a chained panther, biting the bars of his cage. It is 
really a manifesto of anarchy. ' ' But the friends of the bank found 
that Jackson had not overshot the mark. The veto was sustained 
in spite of desperate efforts made to override it. The bank sup- 
porters, having been foiled at Washington, now carried their fight 
into politics and attempted to prevent the reelection of Jackson. 

The election of 1832 was a memorable event in the history of ^{^j* 
American politics, for it marked the beginning of nominating can- £™ ven " 
didates at national conventions. The convention system had its 



286 THE JACKSONIAN ERA 

chap. origin with the Antimasonic party which was organized for the 

purpose of excluding freemasons from public office. Opposition to 

the masons was due chiefly to the mysterious disappearance of 
William Morgan of Batavia, New York, who in 1826 wrote a book 
divulging secrets of the masonic order. As the charge was made 
that Morgan was abducted and murdered by the masons, a wave of 
excitement and indignation swept over many of the Eastern States ; 
and the opposition to secret societies assumed the form of an 
organized party, which by September, 1831, was able to hold at 
Baltimore a nominating convention in which more than half the 
States were represented. This convention nominated William Wirt 
of Virginia for President and issued an address to the people. In 
the following December a convention of National Republicans met 
at Baltimore and nominated Henry Clay for the Presidency. In 
the convention, which consisted of 167 delegates, all the States but 
six were represented. In May, 1832, the Democrats — for the word 
"Democrat," once used as a term of reproach, had now come to be 
officially accepted as a word of honor — also met in convention at 
Baltimore and unanimously nominated Jackson for the Presi- 
dency and Martin Van Buren for Vice-Presidency. The Demo- 
cratic convention consisted of 326 delegates representing every 
State but one. Thus a new institution, the national nominating 
convention, was introduced into American political life. 
The In the campaign of 1832 the bank question was the paramount 

of 1832 issue. The enemies of the bank rallied around Jackson ; its friends 
around Clay. In the struggle the advantage was all with Jackson. 
When the Democratic orators went among the people and told them 
that Clay was for the bank, a monstrous monopoly which kept up 
the rates of interest and made money scarce, they believed all that 
was said, and their minds turned to Jackson as their truest friend. 
The result of the election was a decisive triumph for the Demo- 
crats. Jackson received 219 electoral votes, Clay forty-nine, and 
Wirt seven. John Floyd of Virginia received the eleven electoral 
votes of South Carolina, where the nullifiers, who were in control 
of the legislature (which then chose the electors), deliberately 
threw their votes away rather than vote for either Jackson or Clay. 
The popular vote for Jackson was 687,502, while that for Clay and 
Wirt combined was 530,189. Clay carried only Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, and part of Mary- 
land. In Georgia and Alabama, Jackson had no opposition what- 



JACKSON AND THE BANK 287 

ever. Thus the election showed that the country was against the Sfy VP - 
bank. 



Jackson's victory over the bank was now complete. He had Jackson 

Be.it on the 

frustrated its effort to secure a new charter and he had defeated Destruction 

• -n • oi tne Bank 

its friends at the polls. For most men this would have been glory 
enough; the bank would have been allowed to live out its term in 
peace. But Jackson was bent upon utterly demolishing the United 
States Bank as a national institution; and he determined to draw 
the fangs of the monster by depleting its funds. In 1833 he 
directed William Duane, his secretary of the treasury, to issue an 
order forbidding the collectors of the United States revenues to 
deposit any more money in the bank. This meant the removal of 
all Government deposits, for the money that was already on deposit 
— about $10,000,000 — would be drawn out in the ordinary course 
of meeting the expenses of the Government. Under existing laws 
Jackson's orders in respect to the deposits could not be carried out 
without the consent of the secretary of the treasury, who alone had 
authority to remove the deposits and who in this particular matter 
was responsible not to Jackson but to Congress. But Jackson found 
that his secretary was not a pliant instrument. Duane firmly re- 
fused to remove the deposits. The President was not to be baffled 
by an obstreperous member of his cabinet. Duane, refusing to 
resign, was dismissed. Roger B. Taney of Maryland was appointed 
in his place, and Jackson's wishes now were complied with. The 
public money already in the bank was gradually drawn out and 
no more was deposited. The blow was a severe one, and the bank 
never recovered from it. As a national institution it expired with 
its charter, although it was rechartered in Pennsylvania as a State 
bank. 

Jackson, justifying his action to Congress, declared an official ^ olution 
report showed that the bank had been actively engaged in attempt- of Censure 
ing to influence the election of public officers by means of its money, 
and that it had placed funds at the disposition of its president to 
be employed for political purposes. This, he said, raised the ques- 
tion ' ' whether the people of the United States are to govern through 
representatives chosen by their unbiased suffrages or whether the 
power and money of a great corporation are to be secretly extended 
to influence their judgment and control their decisions." The 
House approved of Jackson's course, but in the Senate he was bit- 
terly assailed by the best talent of the country ; Clay, Calhoun, and 



288 THE JACKSONIAN EEA 

chap. Webster were all against him. His onty able champion was Thomas 

Hart Benton of Missouri. Clay introduced and carried through 

the Senate a resolution of censure declaring that the President in 
the late executive proceedings in relation to the public revenues 
had assumed upon himself authority and power not conferred by 
the Constitution and laws, but in derogation of both. This resolu- 
tion stung Jackson to the quick. He determined that the obnoxious 
censure should be expunged, and after a long fight led by Benton 
he had his will. In 1837 at the close of his administration the 
manuscript journal of the session of 1833-34 was brought into the 
Senate and around the resolution of censure black lines were drawn 
and across its face were written in "strong letters" the words: 
"Expunged by order of the Senate this the sixteenth day of Janu- 
ary the year of our Lord 1837." A crowded gallery witnessed the 
proceedings. Benton celebrated the occasion by providing his 
supporters with an ample supply of cold hams, turkeys, rounds of 
beef, pickles, wines, and hot coffee, while Jackson gave a dinner to 
the expungers and their wives. It was a moment of joy for the old 
hero, for the bank was dead and he was vindicated. 
Jackson's Now that the hated bank was laid low Jackson felt that his work 

ments Ve was done. He regarded that work with a glow of unfeigned satis- 
faction. He had dealt a fatal blow to the policy of internal im- 
provements, the tariff had been adjusted on a basis of compromise 
between the free traders and the protectionists, nullification had 
been checked, the bank monopoly had been throttled, the national 
debt had been paid, and through his leadership the people had 
been enthroned as the masters of government. When the time came 
for him to surrender his public trust he felt justified in saying that 
he left the country prosperous and happy, in the full enjoyment 
of liberty, at peace, and honored and respected by every nation 
in the world. 

The Administration op Martin Van Buren 
"King Jackson could easily have been nominated for a third term had 

Andrew" 

Names van he so desired. But he was too old and feeble for further service. 

Buren, Who 

is Elected "My own race, he said in a farewell address, is nearly run; 
advanced age and failing health warn me that before long I must 
pass beyond the reach of human events and cease to feel the vicis- 
situdes of human affairs." Lack of vigor, however, did not pre- 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF MARTIN VAN BUREN 289 

vent him from taking a hand in politics and naming the Democratic xrv P * 

candidate for the election of 1836. His choice fell upon Martin " 

Van Buren, a man who had served him long and well. A Demo- 
cratic national convention consisting of several hundred office- 
holders, bowing submissively to the will of "King Andrew," 
unanimously nominated Van Buren. The Whig candidate was 
William H. Harrison, the hero of Tippecanoe. 1 Van Buren was 
easily the victor in the race. 

Van Buren was the first President who was not born a British Estimate of 
subject, and the first to be elected from the Middle States. "A poor VanBuren 
farmer's boy," says Schouler, "self-educated and aspiring, this 
bright Knickerbocker lawyer was instructed when young in the 
methods of the Democratic machine by Aaron Burr himself and 
rose by his clever handling of it through all the grades from county 
politics to governor ; lifted from pinnacle to pinnacle in his national 
ascent by the ingenious mechanism he had so carefully perfected 
and which kept his great State moving to his will. He it was, 
whose example if not his hand, made the spoils system a national 
one. Though subtle rather than strong, he certainly had talents 
far beyond the average of public men, not as a political organizer 
only, but in the higher range of statesmanship. He was a good 
diplomatist, a fair administrator; his democracy, albeit a little 
servile to the many, was wholesome and robust." 

Van Buren in his inaugural address indicated that it would be 
his policy to tread in the footsteps of his "illustrious predecessor." 
He retained Jackson's cabinet, and his administration was in many 
things simply a continuation of the Jackson regime. He soon 
found that his "illustrious predecessor" had not left him a path of 
roses in which to tread ; for Jackson, in truth, had sowed the wind 
and it was the lot of Van Buren to reap the whirlwind. 

A chief source of Van Buren 's woes was a train of evils which " Wildcat " 

Currency 

grew out of the war upon the bank. By crushing the Bank of the 
United States Jackson at the same time increased, as he desired to 
increase, the power of hundreds of State banks scattered through- 
out the country. These banks issued notes which circulated as 
currency and which formed a large part of the circulating medium 
even while the Bank of the United States was in existence. After 
that institution was destroyed the State banks were encouraged to 
issue notes in larger quantities than ever. Moreover, all over the 
*See p. 224. 



290 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 



CHAP. 
XIV 



Wild 
Speculation 



The Dis- 
tribution 
of the 
Surplus 



The Specie 
Circular 



country new State banks were organized. In some of the States, 
especially in the West, the State banks issued notes regardless of 
their ability to redeem them, many a "bull-frog institution strain- 
ing in imitation to swell to the size of an ox." The result was^ a 
tidal wave of inflation. Within the two years 1835-37 $80,000,000 
of "wildcat" currency — as the worthless paper issues of banks were 
called — was printed and put into circulation. 

This wildcat banking led to feverish speculation in almost every 
line of business. Money was easy to get and men went into all 
kinds of enterprises. A favorite field of speculation was the public 
lands, which at this time were open to any purchaser without 
wholesome limits of acreage. "The farmer," says McMaster, "the 
manufacturer, the city merchant, the country merchant, bought 
land and paid their debts, if paid at all, not with dollars, but with 
over-valued land. Land bought from the Government for a dollar 
and a quarter an acre was at once valued at ten or fifteen dollars 
an acre. The more a man bought and the more he borrowed to 
pay for it, the richer he w r as. Bits of wild prairie, far removed 
from all means of easy access, were laid out, on paper, into town 
lots which sold for twenty dollars a lot. . . . Such was the craze 
that the phantom town projectors actually invaded the East and 
sold their lots in New York and Boston." 

The moment the public domain became a source of speculation 
the receipts from land sales began to rise with astonishing rapidity. 
In 1834 the sales amounted to less than $5,000,000; in 1835 they 
amounted to nearly $15,000,000, and in 1836 to nearly $25,000,000. 
This unusual influx of money into the Treasury enabled the Gov- 
ernment to pay off the national debt and still have a surplus w r hich 
in 1835 amounted to more than $35,000,000. Of this surplus about 
$28,000,000 was distributed to the several States in proportion to 
their respective representation in the Senate and House. In name 
the money thus distributed was a deposit, but in fact it was a 
gift; for to this day not a dollar of it has been called for. The 
distribution of this surplus brought no great benefits to the States 
and was a source of positive injury to the country ; for some of the 
States used the money to found State banks which issued more 
paper currency, thereby aggravating the evil of inflation and 
stimulating the desire for speculation. 

In order to abate the fever for speculation and reduce inflation 
Jackson in 1836 had issued his famous Specie Circular. This 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF MARTIN VAN BUREN 291 

directed that public lands be paid for only in gold or silver. The ™y P ' 

order operated as a wholesome check upon the wild issue of paper 

money, but it brought dismay and distress upon dealers in public 
lands. "Gold was called," says E. M. Shepard in his "Van 
Buren," "from the East to the banks at the West to make land 
payments. Into the happy exaltation of unreal transactions was 
now plunged that harsh demand for real value which sooner or 
later must always come. The demand was passed on from one to 
another, and its magnitude and peremptoriness grew rapidly. The 
difference between paper and gold became plainer and plainer. 
Every man rushed to his bank or his debtor, crying, Pay me in 
value, not in promises to pay. But the banks and debtors had no 
available value, but only its paper semblances." 

By the time the Specie Circular was issued speculation had Pr^p^rty 8 
already brought the country to the verge of a panic, although seem- 
ingly conditions were highly prosperous. Jackson in his farewell 
address ventured to say, "From the earliest ages of history to the 
present day there never have been thirteen millions of people 
associated in one political body who enjoyed so much freedom and 
happiness as the people of the United States. ' ' But the prosperity 
to which Jackson alluded was wholly fictitious. In reality every- 
thing was pointing to a crash. Taxes were higher than the people 
could bear; merchants were overstocked with a glut of foreign 
goods which had not been paid for and which could not be sold; 
laborers were struggling with the high cost of living; financiers 
of England and France were in sore straits; banks were straining 
every nerve to strengthen a credit that was constantly growing 
weaker ; money was scarce and the rates of interest were exorbitant. 
If there should be a sudden shock the bubble would burst. 

Van Buren had hardly entered upon his duties when the shock o f he 18 ^ a 7 nic 
came. In the spring of 1837 the effects of the Specie Circular 
began to be felt. The large volume of paper money which had been 
issued for the purchase of lands began to come back to the banks 
for redemption, and redemption was impossible. The banks, there- 
fore, were driven to suspend specie payments. In May all the 
banks of New York City suspended, and by summer there was not 
a single bank in the United States meeting its demands in gold 
and silver. Thus confidence was shaken ; credit had received a 
blow under which it first staggered and then fell. As the banks 
went down trading concerns went down with them, and the re- 



292 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 



CHAP. 
XIV 



An Inde- 
pendent 
Treasury 



Van Buren 

and 

Harrison 



vulsion became general. Prices suddenly rose, flour jumping from 
five to eleven dollars a barrel and corn from fifty cents to a dollar 
a bushel. In New York City there were bread riots and the military 
were called out. Mills and factories were shut down, business 
houses closed their doors, contracts were canceled, improvement 
projects were halted, and workmen lost their jobs. 

While the panic was sweeping over the country Van Buren, in 
response to public sentiment, called an extra session of Congress 
for the purpose of taking action to bring relief to the land. Inas- 
much as a panic is a financial ailment which must run its course 
there was little that either the President or Congress could do to 
bring back good times. Van Buren was urged to withdraw the 
Specie Circular in order that paper money might again become 
plentiful; but as he was a "hard money" man, he refused. Indeed, 
he extended the scope of the circular and required that the business 
of the post-office be conducted on a specie basis. The friends of 
the late bank wished it to be reestablished, but Van Buren would 
not consent to this. The United States Bank, he said, did not or 
could not prevent inflation. Besides, had not the people in two 
elections declared against a national bank? 

He did, however, urge Congress to establish an Independent 
Treasury, where the Federal Government could keep its money in 
its own vaults, thus becoming independent of the banks. "It is 
apparent," he said, "that the events of the last few months have 
greatly augmented the desire among the people to separate the 
fiscal operations of the Government from those of individuals or 
corporations." The influence of the banks was thrown against 
the Independent Treasury scheme and the measure had a long and 
rough journey in Congress. At last, however, in 1840, an act was 
passed directing the Treasury of the United States to keep in its 
own vaults all the moneys coming into its hands. Under the new 
arrangement the funds of the Government were deposited in the 
Treasury building at Washington and in subtreasuries located in 
the principal cities of the country. Thus was established the In- 
dependent Treasury system, the only enduring monument of the 
Van Buren administration. 

By the time Van Buren had secured the divorce of the Govern- 
ment from the banks his term was drawing to an end, and a Presi- 
dential battle was raging. Although his administration had been 
severely condemned as responsible for the panic he was nevertheless 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF MARTIN VAN BUREN 293 

popular with his party; and he was unanimously nominated for £fy P - 

reelection at a national convention held in Baltimore in May, 1840. 

An opposition ticket had already been placed in the field by the 
Whig party, the name now officially assumed by the National 
Republican party. The Whigs, who held their convention at 
Harrisburg, really wanted Clay as their nominee, but they were 
assured that he could not be elected. Accordingly, after indulging 
in much wire-pulling and political jugglery, they again chose as 
their standard bearer the hero of Tippecanoe, William Henry 
Harrison of Ohio. Their candidate for Vice-President was John 
Tyler of Virginia. Tyler was for Clay, "first, last and all the 
time." When he heard that the great Kentuckian had been de- 
feated it is said that he burst into tears, and it is likely that it 
was this excess of emotion that led to his nomination as Vice- 
President. 

The campaign of 1840 was picturesque and noisy. On the Whig £ Nois 7 
side it was enthusiastic beyond the bounds of common sense. 
"Monster meetings, processions, parades, spectacular entertain- 
ments of every kind, songs, were all so many opportunities of 
shouting, for howling out Harrison's name without further refer- 
ence to the actions and qualities which marked him out for the 
Chief Magistracy." Harrison was a plain man living in a plain 
way on a farm in Ohio, and an Eastern newspaper suggested that 
it would be better for the country if he would remain there, de- 
claring with a sneer, that the Whig candidate would be more at 
home "in a log-cabin, drinking cider and skinning coons than 
living in the White House as President." As vast numbers of the 
voters were themselves living in log cabins the Whigs could make 
good use of the sneer, and they did so. "Log cabin and hard 
cider" was taken up as the campaign cry. Men wore log-cabin 
buttons, smoked log-cabin cigars, and sang log-cabin songs. Log 
cabins were placed on wheels and pulled from town to town. As 
they rolled along merry fellows sat on the roof eating johnny- 
cakes, drinking cider, and shouting "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." 
In the West Harrison's name was on every tongue. Women named 
their children "Tippecanoe." Teamsters would call one of their 
horses Tip and the other Ty. "The very hens in the West," ex- 
claimed a stump speaker, "are on the side of Harrison, for a hen 
nowadays never lays an egg but she cackles 'Tip-tip! Tip-tip! 
Tyler!' " The Whig meetings were the greatest gatherings that 



294 



THE JACKSONIAN ERA 



CHAP. 
XIV 



Who Were 
the Whigs ? 



had ever been seen in America. People were counted by the acre 
At Dayton, Ohio, there was a monster gathering covering ten 
acres of ground, and numbering 100,000 people. 

The effect of all this sound and fury was irresistible. "It was 
like the breach made in Jericho 's walls at the blowing of the trum- 
pet and the great shout." The Democrats were hooted and shouted 
into defeat, and the victory of the Whigs was overwhelming. 
Harrison received a majority of the popular vote and 234 of the 
290 electoral votes, and he carried all the States but seven. Jack- 
son could not save even his own State of Tennessee for Van Buren, 
and Van Buren could not save even his own State of New York 
for himself. 

Thus the era of Jacksonian democracy closed with the defeat 
of the Democratic party which had been in control of the Govern- 
ment for forty years. And who were the victorious Whigs? They 
were for the most men who belonged to the educated and well-to-do 
classes. Their party resembled the earlier Federalists, being com- 
posed largely of scholars, professional men, prosperous tradesmen, 
bankers, capitalists, and those who "basked in the sunshine of 
capital," manufacturers, and merchants. Their leaders were the 
ablest and most brilliant men of the day. They were found in 
large numbers in all parts of the country, in the South as well as 
in the North and West. But they were a heterogeneous body, 
composed of diverse and conflicting elements. Their only bond of 
union was a common desire to wrest political power from the 
Democrats. Had their party been one of fixed political principles 
it might have made a glorious record. But they were lacking in 
principles; they were faithful to no program. As a result they 
accomplished but little. 



Suggested Readings 

Jackson's triumph : Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 141-150. 

Election of 1832 : MacDonald, pp. 183-199. 

Bank question: McMaster, Vol. VI, pp. 183-198; Dewey, pp. 198-216. 

Public lands and the Specie Circular : MacDonald, pp. 276-291. 

Election of 1826: MacDonald, pp. 292-305; Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 166-189. 

Panic of 1837 : Dewey, pp. 224-247. 

Election of 1840 : Garrison, pp. 123-140 ; Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 190-205. 



XV 

INDUSTKIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 

IN the last two chapters the reader has followed an account of 
our political history from the close of the War of 1812 to the 
end of Van Buren's administration. But politics is not the whole 
story of this period. While politicians during the Era of Good 
Feeling and during the Jacksonian Era were fighting their battles 
in the halls of legislatures and on the hustings, business men and 
toilers far removed from the arena of political strife were working 
with all their might to develop the nation 's resources. At this point 
therefore we must turn from the scene of politics to review the 
industrial and social progress that was made between 1820 and 
1840. 

Highways, Canals, and Railroads 

The most striking feature of American progress during this 
period was the development in transportation. No single interest 
held a larger part of the public attention than the building of roads 
and canals. There was great activity in this direction in all parts 
of the Union, but the most remarkable results were the means of 
communication established between the East and the West and be- 
tween the interior parts of the West itself. At the beginning of 
the period commercial intercourse between the seaboard States and 
those beyond the Alleghanies was so impracticable that it was 
hardly profitable ; by the end of the period the East and the West 
had been connected by several serviceable routes of transportation, 
and a growing commerce was strengthening the political and eco- 
nomic ties of the two regions. 

We have seen that from time to time efforts were made to secure ™t ional 
the aid of the Federal Government in the work of road and canal Extended 
construction and that such efforts usually ended in failure. In 
the main it was through the enterprise of the State or the locality 
that the transportation system was developed. To one project, 
however, Congress remained quite faithful; it continued to assist 

295 



296 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 



CHAP. 
XV 



in the extension of the National Road. Under the fostering care 
of the National Government this highway was carried further and 
further westward; and by 1840 it had passed through Zanesville 
and Columbus in Ohio, through Richmond, Indianapolis, and Terre 
Haute in Indiana, and had reached its western terminus at Van- 
dalia in Illinois. For many years the highway w r as a conspicuous 
feature of Western life. Traffic on it was so heavy that it pre- 
sented a picture of an almost endless procession of moving figures, 
coaches, wagons, carts, travelers on horseback and on foot, and 




The United States in li 



Steamboats 



cattle of every description. Emigrants in large covered wagons 
were always moving westward while drovers with their cattle 
were always making their way to the markets of the East. At cer- 
tain points the highway at times resembled a street in a populous 
city. 

The transportation facilities afforded by the National Road were 
supplemented by the hundreds of steamboats which were now ply- 
ing on the Western rivers. The effect of steamboat navigation 
in the West was to build up the Gulf trade. The farmers of the 
Ohio Valley could ship their grain by water to New Orleans and 
receive a price sufficient to pay the freight and still, leave a profit ; 



HIGHWAYS, CANALS, AND RAILROADS 



297 



but if they should send it by land over the mountains to the Atlantic ^y AP - 

seaboard the cost of transportation would eat up the proceeds. It 

was as natural, therefore, for the Western trade to find its way 
to the Gulf ports as it was for water to run down-hill. 

In this movement of commerce there was both a political and A Political 

x and an 

an economic danger. If trade should continue to flow away from Economic 
the East the Western States in time might become imbued with a 
sectional spirit and might wish to separate themselves from the 
Union. If the farmers of the West, furthermore, should trade only 
with the South the economic loss to the East would be disastrous. 
The business men of New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, there- 
fore, could not afford to let the Western trade slip away from them. 
Before it was too late they bestirred themselves to set on foot 
plans for establishing means of communication by which the East 




The National Road 



and the West might be held together by commercial ties. If this 
could be done political bonds would likely take care of them- 
selves. 

Since goods could not be moved cheaply over roads the people Canals 
of the seaboard looked to the canal as a means of securing the 
Western trade. Leaders like Jefferson and Washington had always 
been alive to the possibilities of the canal as an agency for com- 
pleting the circuit between the waterways of the East and those of 
the Mississippi Valley. "Extend," said Washington, "the inland 
navigation of the Eastern waters; communicate them as near as 
possible with those which run westward; open these to the Ohio; 
— open also such as extend from the Ohio towards Lake Erie — 
and we shall not only draw the produce of the Western settlers but 
the pelts and fur trade of the Lakes also to our ports, binding 
the people to us by a chain which can never be broken." Canal 
building on a large scale began in 1817 when De Witt Clinton, 
governor of New York, turned the first spadeful of earth on the 



298 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 



CHAP. 
XV 



The 

Erie Canal 



A Prophecy 



Erie Canal which was to be built at the expense of the State and 
was to extend from Albany to Buffalo, connecting the Hudson 
River with Lake Erie. The prime object of this canal was to give 
the merchants of New York City easy communication with the 
western part of the State and also with the great Western country 
beyond. 

In 1825 the canal was completed and thrown open to the 
public. Its opening was celebrated in a manner worthy of an 
event which has had such profound significance in American his- 
tory. The celebration began at Buffalo. Along the canal from 
that town to Albany and along the Hudson River from Albany 
down to the sea cannons had been placed, and at the moment when 
the canal was opened at Buffalo the cannons began to open their 
throats, carrying the news along the whole length of the waterway 
down the Hudson to New York City. A return salute was given 
informing the people of Buffalo that the people of New York had 
heard the glad news. Starting at Buffalo on October 26, a fleet of 
gaily decorated boats left Buffalo and moved slowly eastward 
along the canal. As they passed they were greeted at town after 
town by bands of music and by cheers of thousands who stood on 
the banks. On the morning of November 4 the procession of boats 
reached New York. A flask of water was poured into the bay by 
Governor Clinton and the waters of the Great Lakes were declared 
to be united forever in marriage with the waters of the Atlantic 
Ocean. 

In the mind of Clinton the canal was to be both a political and 
a commercial tie between the East and the West. "As a bond of 
union between the Atlantic and the Western States," he said, "it 
may prevent the dismemberment of the American empire. As an 
organ of communication between the Hudson, the Mississippi, the 
St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes of the North and West and their 
tributary rivers, it will create the greatest inland trade ever wit- 
nessed. The most fertile and extensive regions of America will 
avail themselves of its facilities for a market. All their surplus 
productions whether of the soil, the forest, the mines, or the water, 
their fabrics of art, and their supplies of foreign commodities will 
concentrate in the city of New York. That city in the course of 
time will become the granary of the world, the emporium of com- 
merce, the seat of manufactures, the focus of great moneyed opera- 
tions, and before the revolution of a century the whole island of 



HIGHWAYS, CANALS, AND RAILROADS 299 

Manhattan, covered with habitations and replenished with a dense £y AP - 

population will constitute one vast city. ' ' 

The Erie Canal was hardly finished before plans were laid for ThePenn- 

•' x sylvania 

a system of canals from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. The merchants Canal 
of Philadelphia were no less eager for the Western trade than were 
those of New York. In 1826 the State of Pennsylvania began the 
construction of the Pennsylvania Canal, and nine years later one 
could travel by a horse-railway from Philadelphia to the town of 
Columbia, on the Susquehanna ; thence by a canal along the Sus- 
quehanna and Juniata to Hollidaysburg ; thence by a portage rail- 
way — a series of inclined planes upon which cars were operated 
by means of stationary engines — over the Alleghany Mountains 
to Johnstown ; thence by canal to Pittsburg. Thus Philadelphia 
found an easy route to the West. 

As an agency of transportation the canal was vastly superior to Redu^os a the 
the turnpike. In the first place it made traveling easier. On the Trans°porta- 
canals there were special boats called packets. These were fitted tIon 
up with berths and dining-rooms, and on them passengers could 
travel comfortably and at cheap rates. The movement, to be sure, 
was slow — only four or five miles an hour, — but the journey was 
pleasant : in fine weather the travelers sat on the roof of the packet 
and read or played cards, or amused themselves in other ways. 
More important than the added convenience of traveling was the 
reduction in charges for carrying freight. Before the Erie Canal 
was built it cost one hundred dollars to transport a ton of goods 
from Buffalo to New York ; the canal reduced the cost to less than 
twenty dollars. An immediate result of the lowering of freight 
rates was to cause trade in great volume to flow toward the canal. 
Within a year after it was opened 19,000 boats loaded with lumber, 
grain, furs, and other kinds of freight were counted as they passed 
West Troy on their way to New York. In 1835 there were shipped 
on the canal from Ohio alone 86,000 barrels of flour, 98,000 bushels 
of wheat, and 2,500,000 staves. 

Almost before the canals were in full operation railways began Railroads 
to appear. On the first railroads the cars were drawn by horses, 
and a speed of only six or eight miles an hour was obtained. But 
experiment soon proved that the steam locomotive could be substi- 
tuted for the horse. In England, George Stephenson had shown 
as early as 1826 that the iron horse could transport passengers and 
freight, and by 1830, on the Liverpool & Manchester road, locomo- 



300 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 



CHAP. 
XV 



tives were speeding along at the rate of thirty miles an hour. Of 
course America could not lag behind. About 1825 the business men 
of Baltimore began to look to the railroad as a new means of com- 
munication with the West, and by 1830 they had built a portion of 
the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and had placed on its tracks a loco- 
motive invented by Peter Cooper. Cooper was his own fireman and 
engineer on the trial trip of this locomotive, which was made be- 




25 60 



Erie Canal, Pennsylvania Canal, and Baltimore and Ohio Railway 

tween Baltimore and Ellicott Mills, a distance of thirteen miles. 
On the way back to Baltimore the locomotive had a race with a 
horse drawing a car on a parallel track. The locomotive at first 
kept the lead, but, owing to an accident, the horse in the end won 
the race. Still, the trial was in the main successful. 

After this humble beginning new lines were rapidly laid in many 
parts of the country. In 1843 the ''Railroad Journal" said: 
"There are now between four and five thousand miles of railroad 
in use in the United States built by the expenditure of nearly 



FILLING UP THE WEST 301 

$100,000,000. There are now probably more than 500 locomotive £y AP - 

engines in use, nearly all of them built in this country. Eleven 

years ago a dead level was by many deemed necessary, and grades 
thirty feet to the mile were hardly thought admissible. Now 
engines are in daily use which surmount grades of sixty to eighty 
feet to the mile. Eleven years ago it was thought that railroads 
could not compete with canals in carrying heavy freight. Now 
we know that the most profitable of the Eastern railroads derives 
one-half of its income from bulk freight. Eleven years ago the 
profitableness of railroads was not established. Now it is already 
demonstrated by declared dividends that well-constructed railroads 
are the most profitable investments in our country." 

Filling Up the West 

An immediate result of this remarkable development in the 
routes of transportation was to accelerate the westward movement. 
But this was not a time for the formation of new States in the 
West. After the admission of Missouri in 1821 it was fifteen years 
before another State entered the Union. Western development 
between 1820 and 1840 consisted mainly not in organizing new 
territory but in filling up the vast region that was organized be- 
tween 1800 and 1820. 1 

The most powerful factor in filling up the vacant spaces was the wester n^ 
Erie Canal. The first effect of the new waterway upon the westward 
movement was of course to open up western New York, which was 
soon "blossoming as the rose," as Clinton prophesied it would. Vil- 
lages and towns soon lined the canal from one end to the other. 
Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo, mere villages when the 
"big ditch" was opened, had grown by 1840 to be flourishing cities. 

The influence of the canal quickly spread to regions far beyond Michigan 
the State of New York. The westward moving packets carried 
throngs of emigrants — home-seekers leaving New England or New 
York — bound for the country bordering on the Great Lakes, 
Northern Ohio rapidly filled up with settlers. Cleveland became a 
hustling little city, Toledo a thriving town. Thousands moved on 
to the Michigan country. Here growth had been slow. In 1805 
the lower peninsula of Michigan had been cut off from Indiana 
Territory and organized as Michigan Territory with William Hull 

*See pp. 223-232. 



302 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 

chap. as the first governor and Detroit as the first capital. But it was 

a wild and desolate region that Hull went out to govern. The 

great forests were still as unbroken and as untrodden as they 
were when explored by the followers of Champlain two hundred 
years before. The only settlements were Detroit, Mackinaw, and 
Frenchtown. The chief occupation was fur trading. In all the 
Territory there were in 1810 less than five thousand persons. But 
about 1820 Michigan began to feel the pulsations of American 
progress. The steamboat Walk-in-the-Water appeared in 1818 at 
Detroit and the next year at Mackinaw, where the red men were 
made to believe that the strange-looking vessel was drawn by a 
team of trained sturgeon. Seven years after the appearance of 
the steamboat on the Great Lakes the Erie Canal was opened, 
and a new era dawned upon Michigan. Streams of emigrants from 
New York and New England, making their way to the shores of 
the upper lakes, populated the region at a rate so rapid that by 
1837 Michigan Territory numbered more than a hundred thousand 
souls. Michigan was now ready for statehood, and the boon was 
conferred upon her. 
Trade The rapid development around the Great Lakes was matched 

Between the 

west and by a growth equally rapid around the Gulf of Mexico. As trans- 

the South , . 

portation was the chief agency of progress at the North, so it was 
at the South. It was the presence of the steamboat upon the rivers 
of the Middle West and upon the numerous navigable streams flow- 
ing into the Gulf that made it possible for the States bordering 
on the Gulf to achieve their economic aims. In the Gulf States 
cotton culture had become so profitable that planters desired to 
raise nothing but cotton ; their foodstuffs and horses and cattle 
they preferred to buy outside of the South. In the States north 
of the Ohio there was a surplus of the products needed by Southern 
planters. Hence the grain growing States of the Middle West sup- 
plied the wants of the cotton growing States, a thing which they 
were enabled to do by the steamboat and the network of rivers. 
Vast quantities of pork, lard, beef, butter, cheese, corn, flour, and 
whisky were shipped from the Ohio Valley to the cotton States. 
r^movii of Having put all his eggs in one basket the planter 's chief ambi- 
the Indians tion was "to raise more cotton to buy more negroes to raise more 
cotton to buy more negroes." Besides wanting more negroes, the 
planters of course were always striving to secure more land, and 
it was during this period that they made enormous additions to 



FILLING UP THE WEST 



303 



the area of cotton culture. The fresh land was rendered available £y AP - 
by the removal of many thousands of Indians from the South. 
When the red men of the South had been put down by Jackson x 
they had for the most part been allowed to remain on their lands. 
In 1820 more than 60,000 Indians — Creeks, Cherokees, Chickasaws, 
Choctaws, and others — were living in Georgia, Alabama, Mis- 
sissippi, and Tennessee and were occupying extensive tracts of the 
best land of the South. 




Navigable Rivers about 1820 

The white men longed to become the possessors of these lands, 
but the Indians were reluctant to give them up. Jackson, though 
he had been the scourge of the Indians in warfare, was nevertheless 
disposed to treat them fairly. While he was President he proposed 
that the red men be given the choice of either remaining on so 
much of their lands as they could use and conforming to the laws 
of the State in which they happened to be living, or of surrender- 
ing their lands east of the Mississippi in exchange for lands west 
of that river. If there was to be emigration it was to be volun- 
tary, for, said Jackson, it would be as cruel as unjust to compel 
the aborigines to abandon the lands of their fathers and seek a 

1 See p. 216. 



304 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 

chap. home in a distant country. By 1830 experience had shown that it 
was impracticable for the Indians to remain on these lands and 
submit to the white man 's laws, and emigration was the only choice 
left them. Through a series of treaties with the Government they 
consented to surrender their lands east of the Mississippi to the 
United States and to receive in return grants of land west of the 
Mississippi in the region known as Indian Territory. The Indians 
were induced to agree to the treaties by the persuasive powers of 
the President himself. "Friends and brothers," said he in a 
"talk" read by his order to the chief of the Creeks, "listen : Where 
you now are, you and my white children are too near to each other 
to live in harmony and peace. Your game is gone, and many of 
your people will not work and till the earth. Beyond the great 
river Mississippi your father has provided a country large enough 
for all of you, and he advises you to remove to it. There your 
white brothers will not trouble you ; they will have no claim to the 
land, and you can live upon it, and all your children, as long as the 
grass grows or the water runs, in peace and plenty. The land 
beyond the Mississippi belongs to the President and to none else, 
and he will give it to you forever." Most of the tribes acquiesced 
in the policy of removal, and by 1840 but few of them were left in 
their old homes in the South. Thus the red man was got rid of and 
upward of 30,000,000 acres of excellent land were thrown open to 
the cultivation of cotton. 

Arkansas The cotton kingdom of the South was further enlarged in 1836 

by the admission of Arkansas. What is now Arkansas formed a 
part of Louisiana Territory till 1812 and a part of Missouri 
Territory till 1819, when Arkansas Territory was organized. The 
Territory received an overflow of population from Kentucky, Ten- 
nessee, and Missouri, and its growth was rapid. Its soil was 
adapted to the raising of cotton, and, since by the terms of the 
Missouri Compromise it could become slave soil, it came in as a 
slave State. Its admission was regarded as an offset to Michigan, 
which was about to come in as a free State. 

Although Arkansas and Michigan were the only accessions to the 
Union during this period, the actual growth of the West was 
amazing. All parts of the Western country as far as the Mississippi 
felt the effects of the new routes of transportation. By 1840 the 
Ohio Valley had become almost an empire in itself. Ohio, Indiana, 
and Illinois had a combined population of nearly three millions. 



INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL PROGRESS 305 

while Kentucky and Tennessee together could count more than a ^ AP - 

million and a half ; Ohio ranked third in population and was almost 

as populous as Pennsylvania; while Tennessee ranked fourth and 
was more populous than Massachusetts. The West was still rural 
throughout its whole extent ; and with the exception of New Orleans 
and Cincinnati there was in 1840 not a single city west of the 
Alleghanies that could boast of a population of 25,000. St. Louis 
was still a little place of 16,000 souls. 

Industrial and Commercial Progress 
While the West at this period was still wholly rural, the East The Growth 

r * ' of Cities 

was beginning to have cities of considerable size. New York, with 
a population of 123,000 in 1820, had by 1840 passed the 300,000 
mark ; Philadelphia had jumped from 112,000 to 220,000 ; Baltimore 
from 62,000 to 102,000 ; Boston from 43,000 to 100,000. In addi- 
tion to these larger places scores of smaller cities were springing 
up. By 1840 Lowell, New Bedford, Lynn, Providence, Springfield, 
Hartford, New Haven, Troy, Brooklyn, Newark, were all in the 
rank of cities that had a population of more than 10,000. Between 
1820 and 1840 the number of cities with more than 8000 inhabitants 
increased from thirteen to forty-four, while the percentage of the 
urban to the total population nearly doubled. 

This emergence of an urban population was due to a profound The 
change that was taking place in the whole fabric of American system 
society. People were flocking to the cities to work in the factories 
that were being established in all parts of the North. The house- 
hold system of manufacturing was now passing away. Instead of 
the little shop with its master and journeyman and apprentice 
there was rising the great factory with its scores and hundreds of 
employees. This industrial revolution, which in England was well 
under way by the end of the eighteenth century, had its beginning 
in the United States in 1790 when Samuel Slater, an Englishman 
by birth, went to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and set up a good sized 
cotton factory, equipping it with machinery such as was used in 
England. Slater Mill was a success, yet the factory system devel- 
oped but slowly ; the household system for many years continued to 
hold its own. In 1810 Gallatin in an official report declared that 
by far the greater part of the goods made of cotton, flax, or wool 
was manufactured in private families and that two thirds of the 



306 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 



CHAP. 
XV 



The 

Efficiency 
of the 
American 
Factory 



Factory 
Conditions 



clothing worn by the inhabitants of the United States not residing 
in cities — and that meant 90 per cent of all the inhabitants — was 
the product of family manufacturing. But the War of 1812, inven- 
tions and improved processes of manufacture, and the successive 
protective tariffs stimulated manufacturing in a wonderful manner, 
and factories multiplied. By 1830 the factory system had already 
secured a firm foothold, and by 1840 factory-made goods had driven 
from the market many classes of articles manufactured in the 
household. 

Although the American factory was late in making its appearance 
it readily attained a high degree of efficiency. Especially was this 
true of the factories at Lowell where the establishments were the 
largest and the arrangements the most perfect. "It may," said a 
writer describing the cotton manufactures of this city in 1840, ' ' it 
may without fear of contradiction be asserted that the factories at 
Lowell produce a greater quantity of yarn and cloth from each 
spindle and loom (in a given time) than is produced in any other 
factory without exception in the world. ' ' Nor could the workers in 
these mills find their equals in the factories of the Old World. ' ' As 
we arrived at Lowell on the afternoon of Saturday," says an 
Englishman visitor of the mills in 1833, "we had an opportunity 
of seeing those connected with some of the largest cotton factories 
returning from labour. All were clean, neat, and fashionably 
attired. Their general appearance and deportment was such that 
few British gentlemen in the middle ranks of life need have been 
ashamed of leading any one of them to a tea-party. Next day being 
Sunday we saw the young females belonging to the factories going 
to church in their best attire when the favorable impressions of the 
preceding evening were not effaced." 

But there is a darker side to this picture. In the early years of 
the factory system labor conditions both in England and America 
were, generally speaking, discreditable. Hours were long and 
wages were low. The chief object of the employer was to secure 
the maximum of service for the minimum of pay. President Monroe 
once congratulated the manufacturers on the fall of the price of 
labor apparently so favorable to the success of domestic manu- 
factures. As if human labor was raw material and nothing more! 
In the mills of New England the operatives worked on an average 
seventy hours a week. In a factory in Paterson, New Jersey, one 
of the rules required "the women and children to be at their work 






INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL PROGRESS 307 

at half -past four in the morning. They are allowed half an hour chap. 

for breakfast and three-quarters of an hour dinner and then work 

as long as they can see." Of the workers in the factories a vast 
majority consisted of women and children, for in both England 
and the United States "the cradle and the home were robbed to 
secure victims for the natal sacrifice of the new-born capitalism." 
Of the 60,000 employed in the cotton mills more than 40,000 were 
women and children less than twelve years of age. Of 8500 
persons thus employed in Rhode Island more than 3000 were women 
who worked for $2.50 a week and nearly 3500 were children under 
twelve who worked for $1.50 a week. A vaunted advantage of the 
factory system was that it permitted the employment of little 
children whose labor was of little use in any other branch of 
industry. 

Of the manufacturing industries the three most important were Cotton, 
those of cotton, wool, and iron. In the amount of cotton consumed Iron 
the United States in 1830 was second only to England. The woolen 
industry did not fare so well for it could not meet the sharp com- 
petition of English importations. Improved machinery was brought 
into use in the manufacture of woolens and the tariff on woolen 
goods was shoved higher and higher, yet the industry could barely 
hold its own. In 1815 the total value of the product of American 
woolens was $19,000,000; twenty -five years later it was only $20,- 
000,000. In the iron industry the progress was vastly more rapid. 
In 1820 the output of iron was 20,000 tons ; in 1840 it was 315,000 
tons. This increase was due in part to the fact that about 1835 
there sprang up a lively demand for iron in railroad construction. 
It was about this time, also, that better processes in the manu- 
facture of iron were introduced. About 1830 the hot-air blast 
began to be used in the smelting of iron, and about 1840 anthracite 
coal was used instead of charcoal in the furnaces for smelting. The 
greater part of the iron industry was confined to a small territory. 
Of the total number of all the furnaces in the United States in 
1840 half were in the two States of Pennsylvania and New York. 
Besides cotton, wool, and iron there were of course other manu- 
factures, many of them in a prosperous condition. At the close of 
the period the total value of our manufacturing output was some- 
thing like $500,000,000, a very small sum for our day but for 1840 
a really stupendous figure. 



308 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 

ch ap - Commerce during this period wore a double aspect ; foreign trade 

was sluggish while inland trade was bounding along at high speed. 

Foreign The ocean trade was still suffering from the injuries which had been 
inflicted upon it by France and England and by the embargo in 
the War of 1812. In 1830 it was smaller than it had been in 1800, 
and it was not until 1840 that it began to regain the prosperity 
it had had at the opening of the century. More than 80 per cent 
of the country's exports consisted of products of the farm, and 
three fourths of all the agricultural products exported consisted 
of cotton. Of the foreign trade less than 10 per cent, of what we 
sold abroad consisted of manufactured articles. 

Trade 1 ^ ne prosperity of the inland trade was due, of course, to the 

opening of the "West and to the development of the transportation 
system. To understand the movements of inland trade at this 
period we must begin with commercial conditions in the South. 
The planters sold their cotton to the New England and Middle 
States and to Europe, and, as we have seen, brought from the West 
its surplus of agricultural products. 1 This surplus amounted in 
some years to as much as $100,000,000, a sum which in 1840 about 
equaled the total value of our export trade. With the money 
which they received from the South the Western people bought the 
manufactures of the East. By 1840 the South was getting rich 
selling its cotton to the East ; the West was getting rich by selling 
its grain to the South ; and the East was getting rich by selling its 
wares to the South and West. Between the East and the West 
trade moved chiefly in one direction. Eastern manufactures went 
westward over the Erie and Pennsylvania canals, but produce from 
the West did not begin to move to the East in large quantities until 
railroads had been built over the Alleghanies, and this was con- 
siderably after 1840. 

Education and Literature 
"We Must Commerce and industry and material things did not absorb the 

Educate or . . 

we Must entire energy of the nation; men were not living by bread alone; 
indeed the things of the spirit at this time were receiving more 
attention than at any previous period in our history. Education 
in particular was becoming an object of unusual concern. There 
was reason for concern ; for education in the United States after the 
1 See p. 302. 



Perish" 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 309 

War of 1812 was neglected, and by 1825 the schools had become xv AP " 

shamefully inefficient. Presently, however, there was an educa- 

tional revival. Public men began to realize that the foundation of 
democracy is an enlightened electorate. "We must educate," said 
Webster, "or we must perish." Jefferson expressed the same senti- 
ment when he wrote of "a system of general instruction which 
shall reach every description of our citizens from the richest to the 
poorest. ' ' This demand for education did not come from the great 
alone. Toilers were now crying out for a system of public schools. 
At a working-men's meeting held in New York in 1830 it was 
resolved that next to life and liberty education is the greatest 
blessing bestowed upon mankind, and the demand was made that a 
general system of free schools be established at the public expense. 

The cry of the working-men was heard with respect by those in Horace 
authority, and soon a movement for popular education was gaining 
strength in many parts of the country. In New England the move- 
ment was led by Horace Mann, a statesman as well as an educator. 
About 1837 Mann began his great work of school reform. He went 
up and down Massachusetts and urged the people to spend more 
money on the schools, to employ better trained teachers, and to 
build better school-houses. His message was not one of joy to the 
taxpayers, yet it could not be disregarded, for the factory system 
which was gaining such headway required operatives of trained 
intelligence. Mann presented precise statistical details showing 
"that throughout the whole range of mechanical industry the well 
educated operative does more work, does it better, wastes less, uses 
his allotted portion of machinery to more advantage and more profit, 
earns more money, commands more confidence, rises faster, rises 
higher from the lower to the more advanced positions of his employ- 
ment than the uneducated operative." Mann's efforts met with a 
considerable measure of success, and it was not long before a 
general improvement in public education could be observed 
throughout all New England. 

In the Middle and Western States also there was a response to ? d t u h c e a Q 
the educational movement of the day. In New York the authorities states 
for a long time had failed to give free education the hearty support 
it deserved ; but the State that was now taking the lead in so many 
lines of activity could not afford to lag behind in such an important 
matter. New York, accordingly, responded to the spirit of the 
times, and by 1830 she was supporting more than a thousand public 



310 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 

( x }} xv - schools at public expense. Pennsylvania also fell in line and estab- 

lished in 1834 a system of common schools. In Maryland, Virginia, 

and other Southern States the movement found but little support. 
Many years were yet to pass before the South should begin to enjoy 
a complete system of schools free to all children. 
Education j n ^g West popular education was still in a crude state of 

in the West r r 

development. This was to be expected, for the conditions of pioneer 
life did not admit of a highly organized system of education. 
"The early settlers," says a writer describing the free schools of 
Ohio, "were too busy in erecting rude habitations, felling trees, 
hauling timber, making clearings, guiding plows through rocky 
ground, and making passages to the mills and markets to allow 
them to give their attention to any other interest that could be 
deferred till a more convenient time." 

But school interests in the West were by no means wholly 
neglected : indeed, by 1840 in almost all the States west of the 
Alleghanies foundations of a complete system of free education 
were being laid. In the work of building up their schools the 
people of the West were assisted by the Ordinance of 1787, which 
provided that in the government of the Northwest Territory edu- 
cation should be encouraged. 1 This provision was in all cases car- 
ried out, although the encouragement was often given in a lukewarm 
and dilatory fashion. The assistance involved setting aside liberal 
grants of public land for educational purposes. When a State 
entered the Union one section — 640 acres — of every township was 
reserved for the public schools. In case a tract of school land was 
sold to a private purchaser the money received for the land was 
invested, the interest being spent from year to year in supporting 
the public schools. Relying upon these land grants as nest-eggs 
for support, the people in every Western State undertook the 
establishment of a broad and comprehensive system of public in- 
struction. Thus Indiana when she framed her constitution pro- 
vided ' ' that it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide 
by law for a general system of education ascending in regular 
gradation from township schools to a State University where tuition 
shall be gratis and equally open to all." In time this came to mean 
that every boy and girl in the State was to have a chance to receive 
an elementary education and that even the doors of the college 
should be open to those who desired to enter. What was done for 

1 See p. 164. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 311 

free education in Indiana was done in almost every State west of £y AP - 

the Alleghany Mountains. ■ 

The revival extended throughout the whole educational world J. nstitu ; 

tions of 

from the primary school to the university. Higher institutions of " i " lu '. r 

* ° Learning 

learning sprang up in all parts of the country, and before the end 
of our period nearly eighty colleges and universities had been 
established. In the West, where two townships of public land were 
reserved in every State for the support of a university, Ohio Uni- 
versity, Indiana University, and the University of Michigan had 
been organized and were training youths in the higher branches. 
Institutions established by private munificence included those de- 
signed for instruction of almost every variety. The beginning of 
scientific training in the manual and industrial arts was seen in 
the Rensselaer Polytechnical School founded in New York in 1824. 
In 1831 Stephen Girard of Philadelphia left a bequest of $2,000,000 
for the foundation of the famous orphan school which bears the 
name of Girard College. The University of Virginia, which was 
founded by Jefferson in 1819 and which became the object of his 
tenderest care, more nearly approached the idea of a European 
university than any other American institution. A beginning of 
the advanced education of women was made in 1836 when Mount 
Holyoke Seminary was opened. In 1839 the first normal school 
was established at Lexington, Massachusetts. Among the private 
institutions planted at this time not a few grew to be permanent 
and influential centers of learning: notably Amherst, Hamilton, 
Oberlin, Randolph-Macon, Haverford, De Pauw, Knox, Lafayette, 
Marietta, Tulane, and Wesleyan. 

A more general diffusion of knowledge could only lead to a a Literal 

Awakenin 

greater and wider demand for good reading. Accordingly the 
educational revival was accompanied by a literary awakening, and 
so pronounced was the outburst of genius that the period may 
fittingly be called the springtime of American literature. Before 
1800 a few books of essays and poetry and fiction were written by 
American authors, but they were so dull and tiresome that it has 
been said of them that it "took patience to read them and patriot- 
ism to admire them." As late as 1818 Sydney Smith said : "Native 
literature the Americans have none. It is all imported. They had 
indeed a Franklin, and he may live for half a century more on his 
fame. There is, or was, a Mr. Dwight who wrote some poems, and 
his baptismal name was Timothy. There is also a small account of 



312 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 



CHAP. 
XV 



Literature : 
An Illustri- 
ous Group 



Newspapers 



Virginia by Jefferson, and one epic by Joel Barlow, and some pieces 
of pleasantry by Mr. Irving. But why should the Americans write 
books when a six weeks passage brings them in their own tongue, 
our sense, science, and genius in bales and hogsheads? Prairies, 
steamboats, gristmills, are their national objects for centuries to 
come." 

This sneering criticism quickly lost its point and meaning, for 
presently there came to the front a group of writers whose works 
have won for American literature an imperishable fame. In 1819, 
about the time Smith wrote his scathing review, Bryant surprised 
the literary world with his "Thanatopsis, " whose beauty and 
excellence showed that America had at last produced a poet of high 
rank. Books of originality and power now came thick and fast. 
Cooper began to publish in 1821 ; Hawthorne in 1828 ; Poe in 1829 ; 
Whittier in 1831 ; Longfellow and Prescott in 1833 ; Bancroft in 
1834 ; Emerson and Holmes in 1836 ; Lowell in 1841 ; and Parkman 
in 1847. Here was a literary constellation of which any nation 
might be proud. 

Schools and books were not the only agencies by which knowledge 
was spread at this time. The newspaper was reaching an ever 
widening circle of readers. In 1833 "The New York Sun" began 
its remarkable career, issuing the first really successful penny 
paper in the world. Two years later James Gordon Bennett sent 
out from a dingy cellar in Wall Street the first copies of ' ' The New 
York Herald," a daily which sought news in every direction and 
filled its columns with matter that was often sensational, although 
it always tried to be accurate. At the end of our period came 
Horace Greeley's "New York Tribune," a journal which despite its 
novelties and its "amiable idiosyncrasy" influenced profoundly 
the course of public affairs. These newspapers were the first to 
have "the omnipresent reporter and the omniscient editor who now 
help and hinder, stimulate and exasperate us so much." 



Social Betterment 



A 

World-wide 
Movement 
for Reform 



Popular sentiment the world over at this period was directed to 
schemes of social betterment. "It was a time," says Woodrow 
Wilson, "when the world at large was quivering under the impact 
of new forces, both moral and intellectual. The year 1830 marks 
not only a period of sharp political revolution in Europe but also a 



SOCIAL BETTERMENT 313 

season of awakened social conscience everywhere. Nowhere were £y AP - 

the new forces more profoundly felt than in England, where 

political progress has always managed to be beforehand with 
revolution. In 1829 Catholic emancipation was effected; in 1832 
the first reform bill was passed; in 1833 slavery was abolished 
throughout the British Empire ; in 1835 the long needed recon- 
stitution of the government of municipal corporations was accom- 
plished; and in 1836 the act for the commutation of tithes was 
adopted. Everywhere philanthropic movements showed the spirit 
of the age." 

In the United States this feverish desire for reform agitated The 

• -n tc-KT i Temperance 

society m all its ramifications. No sooner do you set your foot Movement 
upon American ground," wrote Tocqueville in 1835, "than you are 
stunned by a kind of tumult ; a confused clamor is heard on every 
side; and a thousand simultaneous voices demand the satisfaction 
of their social wants." One of the reforms which attracted the 
Frenchman's attention was the temperance movement. The use of 
ardent spirits in the United States had become so general and intoxi- 
cation such a flagrant evil that it seemed necessary to do something 
to check the vice of intemperance. Temperance societies were formed 
pledging their members to abstain from strong drink. At first 
only a few radicals regarded beer and wine as harmful beverages, 
but in 1836 a national temperance convention resolved that the 
only effective basis for temperance work was total abstinence from 
all drinks that can intoxicate, including beer and wine as well as 
distilled liquors. The temperance crusade prospered and its 
beneficent results were felt in every State of the Union. The 
consumption of strong liquors was diminished and thousands were 
saved from the drunkard's grave. Moreover, the temperance move- 
ment begun at this period never died out. Indeed, it became so 
strong that its leaders soon entered the field of legislation where 
they remained until the doom of John Barleycorn was sealed. 

A large class of reformers directed their energies to the ameliora- The Poor 
tion of the conditions which surround the poor and unfortunate, unfortunate 
A cry of protest went up against the treatment of debtors ; and no 
wonder, for it was estimated that in 1833 as many as 75,000 persons 
were sent to jail each year for debt. Yielding to the pressure of 
public opinion many of the States enacted measures abolishing 
imprisonment for debt. Another reform secured the better treat- 
ment of the insane. It was the custom to confine lunatics in 



314 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 



CHAP. 
XV 



The Trade- 
union 
Movement 



Robert 
Owen 



ordinary prisons, and examination brought to light the fact that 
in many places the conditions of their confinement were so revolting 
as to be a disgrace to humanity. To the credit of public sentiment 
the disclosures bore good fruit. In State after State the insane 
were separated from the criminal class and confined in hospitals, 
where they became the objects of special care. Paupers and crimi- 
nals also felt the beneficent effects of the humanitarian movement. 
Almshouses were brought under stricter supervision and the hard- 
ships of prison life were mitigated by rational and salutary reforms. 

It was in this period that working-men began to organize, those 
engaged in the same trades or allied trades uniting in a permanent 
association, the abiding purpose of which was to promote in every 
lawful way the general welfare of the associated members. The 
formation of these trade-unions was a direct outgrowth of the 
changed industrial conditions in which workmen found themselves 
after the establishment of the factory system. The aims of the 
unions were usually clear and well defined. We have already seen 
them demanding free schools. But wages and hours of labor were 
the subjects in which they were most deeply concerned. They 
wanted the working-man to receive a wage that would enable him 
to buy a fair share of the good things of life, and they wanted the 
working day to be of a length that would give leisure for the en- 
joyment of the benefits of education, culture and refinement. To 
assist in the promotion of their interest they established their 
special trade journals. The first trade-union journal in the world 
was "The Mechanics' Free Press," published in Philadelphia from 
1828 to 1831. The unions had their benefit funds for the sick and 
unemployed and for men on strike. For at this early date they 
had their strikes and the accompanying boycotts and picketings. 
The trade-union movement, which about 1825 was begining to 
show strength, flourished in nearly all the larger industrial centers. 
In 1833 twenty-two labor societies participated in a parade in New 
York. By the end of our period the labor movement was assuming 
real importance as a factor in the industrial life of the country. 

During this era of agitation socialism had its beginnings in the 
United States. Among the many plans for social betterment there 
was one which had for its aim the reorganization of society on a 
socialistic or communistic basis. In 1824 Robert Owen, a rich and 
capable manufacturer of England, purchased a tract of 30,000 
acres along the Wabash River and began an experiment in 



THE ABOLITION MOVEMENT 315 

communal life. To his community, called New Harmony, he in- £y AP - 

vited all industrious and well-disposed persons who desired "to 

test the socializing potency of human brotherhood." He desired 
that in New Harmony property should be held in common. Indi- 
vidual ownership of lands, houses, and cattle was not to be allowed. 
Every member of the community, however, was to be fully s applied 
with the comforts and necessaries of life. About a thousand people 
responded to Owen's invitation, and the experiment was begun. 
There were times when the community seemed to be prospering, 
but after three years of trial the communistic venture went down 
in failure. "There was not," said Owen, "disinterested industry; 
there was not mutual confidence; there was not practical experi- 
ence; there was not union of action because there was not unanim- 
ity of counsel. These were the points of difference and dissension, 
the rock upon which the social bark struck and was wrecked." 

Now it was that women for the first time began to take part in J he H° ur 

° L for Woman 

public affairs. In the temperance movement women asserted them- Had Not 
selves and rendered effective service in carrying forward the work. 
In politics, however, the voice of woman was seldom heard. In 
truth, the hour for woman had not yet struck. Her lot still was to 
sit at home and knit. When Harriet Martineau visited the United 
States in 1840 she found there was not a woman lawyer or a woman 
physician in the whole country, and that only seven occupations 
were open to women; namely, teaching, type-setting, household 
service, needlework, work in book-binderies and cotton mills; and 
keeping boarders. In most parts of the country any attempt at 
the emancipation of women was sternly repressed by public senti- 
ment. That a woman should speak in public was commonly re- 
garded as monstrous. Once when Susan Anthony, the great pioneer 
champion of woman's rights, had finished the reading of a paper 
at a convention of school-teachers, a prominent man said to her: 
"In matter and manner I could not criticize your essay; but, my 
dear young woman, I would rather have followed my wife and 
daughter to the grave than to have either of them stand here before 
this audience and read that address. ' ' 

The Abolition Movement 

Nevertheless, in spite of this prejudice against feminine activity wmiam 
in public affairs, a few women made bold to take part in the most Garrison 
important movement of the period — the movement for the abolition 



316 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 

£y AP - of slavery. For it was during this time of social ferment that the 
antislavery sentiment was aroused from the slumber into which it 
had sunk after the Missouri Compromise. The abolition forces 
were led by William Lloyd Garrison, one of the most remarkable 
men of his age and the most masterful agitator the country has ever 
seen. Garrison in his private relations was a "mild, courteous, 
simple, sprightly gentleman." "His countenance," said Harriet 
Martineau, "glows with health, and is wholly expressive of purity, 
animation, and gentleness. His speech is deliberate like a Quaker's, 
but gentle as a woman's. Through the whole of his deportment 
breathes the evidence of a heart at ease." But Garrison, the 
abolitionist, was a different man. Regarding slavery as a sin, he 
refused to believe that there could be a sin without a sinner or that 
the sinner could be separated from the sin. When he denounced 
slavery, therefore, he at the same time denounced the slaveholders, 
and his utterances were so fraught with wrath and violence that 
he easily earned the reputation of being a severe, narrow-minded, 
uncompromising fanatic. 

Liberator" Uncompromising Garrison certainly was. In 1831, in the first 
number of his "Liberator," which he edited and printed, setting 
the type with his own hands, he announced in a salutatory what 
might be expected of him as an antagonist of slavery : "I will be 
as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice. On this 
subject I do not wish to think or speak or write with moderation. 
No ! No ! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate 
alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of 
the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from 
the fire into which it has fallen — but urge me not to use moderation 
in a cause like the present. I am in earnest — I will not equivocate 
— I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — and I will be 
heard ! ' ' These were big words but they came from a heart that 
was stout. "Having taken in my hand the trumpet of God," he 
said, "I resolved to blow a strong blast." 

Garrison was not overbold ; the sound of his trumpet was heard 
far and wide. To his call for immediate emancipation, uncondi- 
tional and without compensation, there was a quick and gratifying 
response. Antislavery journals increased in number, antislavery 
books and pamphlets came teeming from the press, and the anti- 
slavery organizations in the North by 1835 could be counted by the 
hundreds and in 1840 by the thousands. 



THE ABOLITION MOVEMENT 317 

In demanding freedom for the slave the abolitionists threw £y AP - 

themselves against the ruling sentiment of the country. In no 

section, whether in the North or South or West, was public opinion Aboiition- 
at this time favorable to abolition. John Quincy Adams declared unpopular 
that in 1835 there were not more than four or five members of the 
House of Representatives who would have voted for the abolition 
of slavery even in the District of Columbia. Of course the abo- 
litionists could not fly in the face of public opinion without paying 
the penalty. In the South they were denounced as fiends in human 
shape who deserved the halter. Slaveholders demanded of the 
North that force be used to put them down and that laws be made 
to imprison their orators and stop their presses. This appeal of 
the South did not pass unheeded. Throughout the free States the 
denunciation of abolitionists was everywhere violent. Their meet- 
ings were set upon by turbulent mobs, their printing-offices were 
destroyed, their houses were wrecked and their leaders subjected 
to violence. In Boston Garrison himself was dragged through the 
streets with a halter around his body, men of prominence taking 
part in the persecution. In Cincinnati a large meeting of citizens 
resolved that there must be "total silence on the subject of 
slavery." In Philadelphia the meeting-house of the abolitionists 
was burned. In 1837 at Alton, Illinois, Elijah Lovejoy, the editor 
of an abolition paper, was brutally murdered and his murderers 
acquitted. 

It turned out that the Lovejoy incident was a case where the wendeii 
' ' blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church, ' ' for the tragedy 
gave to the abolition cause an advocate of towering strength. At 
a meeting held in Boston in historic Faneuil Hall to protest against 
the Alton outrage the attorney-general of Massachusetts made a 
speech in which he attempted to gloss over the crime, comparing 
the riot with the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor and 
saying that Lovejoy "died as the fool dieth." This speech was 
answered by Wendell Phillips, a tall, graceful youth, whose lan- 
guage was that of the educated patrician and whose voice was as 
clear and sweet as the notes of a flute. "When I heard the gentle- 
man," said Phillips, "lay down principles which placed the rioters, 
incendiaries, and murderers of Alton side by side with Otis and 
Hancock, with Quincy and Adams, I thought those pictured lips 
[here he pointed to the portraits on the walls] would have broken 
into voice to rebuke the recreant American, the slanderer of the 



318 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 
c" AP - dead. Sir, for the sentiments he has uttered on soil consecrated 



xv 



by the prayers of Puritans and the blood of patriots the earth 
should have yawned and swallowed him up." The plea of the 
young man was freedom of speech and liberty of the press, and 
his triumph was complete. Henceforth Phillips, turning away 
from the honors which his class would gladly have bestowed upon 
him, espoused the cause of the slave. For nearly thirty years he 
was the tongue of the abolition movement as Garrison was its pen. 
The Law- "While the abolitionists were the victims of much injustice at 

li'ssness i if " 

uonists" 1 ' * ne hands of their fellow-citizens, many of their woes they brought 
upon themselves. Ultra-radicalism and devotion to their cause 
animated them with a spirit of lawlessness. They were for lib- 
erating the slave, law or no law, Constitution or no Constitution. 
They were so enamoured of freedom that they forgot their alle- 
giance to government. Garrison flouted the Constitution and pro- 
claimed it a covenant with death and an agreement with hell. 
They scolded incessantly ; they scorned to hold public office ; they 
refused to vote ; they upbraided the churches ; they indulged in 
foul abuse of public men ; worse than all, they were avowed dis- 
unionists, for in order to get rid of slavery they were willing that 
the free and the slave States should part company. It could not 
be expected that such intolerance and wrongheadedness would 
escape without penalties. 

Propaganda The thing that did the most to excite the South against the 
abolitionists was their propaganda. They circulated books illus- 
trated with pictures showing the horrors of slavery ; they sent 
petitions to State legislatures and to Congress asking that slavery 
be abolished; they flooded the mails with abolition literature. All 
this filled the breast of the slaveholder with dismay, for he feared 
that the abolition literature might fall into the hands of slaves and 
lead to insurrection. 

Turner's This apprehension was not entirely unreasonable. A few months 

insurrectior a ft e r "The Liberator" appeared came Nat Turner's insurrection. 
This slave in August, 1831, gathered together a band of twenty or 
thirty negroes, attacked the whites living near Cross Keys in 
Virginia, and killed fifty-four persons, men, women, and children. 
Forces were hurried to the scene of the uprising and the insurrec- 
tion was quickly quelled. Turner was captured and executed. 
The abolitionists were charged with having incited the insurrection, 
and it was alleged that Turner had received a copy of "The Lib- 



THE ABOLITION MOVEMENT 319 

erator. " There was nothing, however, to substantiate the charge. ^ AP - 

Turner could neither read nor write, and there was no evidence 

that he or any of his followers ever saw a copy of Garrison 's paper. 

Nevertheless, the Turner uprising increased the bitterness of the TheAboii- 

■*■ ° tiomsts and 

South against the abolitionists, and it was not long before the slave- the MaiJs 
holders were making strenuous efforts to have all abolition litera- 
ture excluded from the mails. A bill forbidding the transmission 
of incendiary matter in the mails was brought up in Congress. 
The question was a delicate one upon which to legislate ; to destroy 
mail matter was to destroy private property without due process 
of law. Statesmen were not ready to go so far as this. The bill, 
though it had been reported, hung fire and at last failed of passage 
altogether. 

The cause of the abolitionists soon became identified with another The "Gag" 
cause which must always be one of transcendent importance in a 
democracy. This was the right of petition. The antislavery people 
early began to bombard Congress with petitions requesting it to 
exert its powers wherever it could against slavery. Such petitions 
were peculiarly offensive to the Southern leaders, who saw that 
petitioning was only another form of propaganda. Accordingly 
they undertook to suppress a right which is as old as organized 
society. In 1836 it was resolved by the House of Representatives 
that whereas the agitation of the subject of slavery was disquieting 
and objectionable, "all petitions, memorials, resolutions, or papers 
relating in any way or to any extent whatsoever to the subject of 
slavery or to the abolition of slavery shall, without being either 
printed or referred, be laid upon the table and that no further 
action whatever shall be had thereon." While the House was 
voting upon this resolution John Quincy Adams — now a member 
of Congress — at the moment his name was called rose and said : "I 
hold the resolution to be a direct violation of the Constitution of 
the United States, the rules of this House, and the rights of my 
constituents." Adams was outvoted, but he continued year by 
year his fight against the objectionable "gag" until at last, in 
1840, it was rescinded. "Its imposition," says J. T. Morse, "was 
clearly a mistake on the part of the slaveholding party; free 
debates would almost surely have hurt them less than this inter- 
ference with the freedom of petition. They had assumed an un- 
tenable position. Henceforth, as the persistent advocate of the 
right of petition, Mr. Adams had a support among the people at 



320 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (1820-40) 

c» AP - large vastly greater than he could have enjoyed as the opponent of 
slavery. As his adversaries had shaped the issue he was pre- 
destined to victory in a free country." The "gag" afforded an 
excellent illustration of the futility and fatuity of repression. So 
long as the rule was in effect abolitionists kept up their bombard- 
ment with petitions. As soon as it was removed the bombardment 
flagged. 

The Aboii- Although the abolitionists were the cause of much turbulence in 

tiomsts and 

Politics political circles they were not themselves politicians. Indeed many 
of them believed that they could not consistently engage in politics. 
Garrison held : ' ' The ballot box is not an antislavery, but a pro- 
slavery, argument so long as it is surrounded by the United States 
Constitution, which forbids all approach to it except on condition 
that the voter shall surrender fugitive slaves, suppress negro 
insurrections, sustain a piratical representation in Congress, and 
regard man-stealers as equally eligible with the truest friends of 
freedom and equality to any or all the offices under the United 
States Government." 

Nevertheless, one of the results of the abolition propaganda was 
the organization of the Liberty party. In 1840 the Presidential 
candidate of this party, James G. Birney, received more than 7000 
votes; in 1844 the vote for Birney, who was again the party's 
candidate, was more than 60,000. In the meantime the abolitionists 
went on urging their views upon the country, regardless of all 
parties, standing outside of political life and action altogether, and 
held together by no other bond than that of hostility to slavery. 
Whether they were wrong or right, there gathered about their 
fanaticism and violence a mass of sentiment and opinion which 
one day was to become the nucleus of an irresistible antislavery 
movement. 

Suggested Readings 

Erie Canal : McMaster, Vol. V, pp. 132-130 ; Turner, pp. 32-36. 

The West, 1820-30: Turner, pp. 84-110; Bogart, pp. 189-197. 

Factory system in the United States : Coman, pp. 152-156. 

Educational development : Dexter, pp. 90-113. 

Early labor movement : Bogart, pp. 253-255 ; Commons, Vol. I, pp. 108-138. 

New England industries : Schouler, Vol. IV, pp. 413-416. 

Signs of awakening in the labor world : Commons, pp. 153-169. 

Trade-unions in Action : Commons, Vol. I, pp. 381-424. 

Geographical distribution of immigration : Semple, pp. 310-336. 

Early Knickerbockers : Trent, pp. 67-92. 

First labor movement, 1824-36: Simons, pp. 179-190. 



XVI 
"MANIFEST DESTINY" 

THE onset of progress described in the last chapter resulted in 
such a rapid development of unsettled areas that by 1840 most 
of the best land east of the Mississippi had been taken up and 
pioneers were pushing out into the wild regions of the far North- 
west and the far Southwest. Hunger for new land had become so 
keen that Americans were beginning to demand that the flag be 
carried clear across the continent and planted on the Pacific coast. 
To do this it would be necessary to acquire vast stretches of foreign 
territory. But to restless and ambitious spirits annexation was 
no obstacle. The optimism of the day inspired men to believe that 
it was the ' ' manifest destiny ' ' of America to extend her boundaries 
and that opposition to expansion was only a struggle against fate. 
Appealing to this sentiment of "manifest destiny" the land-seekers 
had their will ; between 1840 and 1850 our flag was carried to the 
Pacific and more than a million square miles of territory were 
added to our national domain. In this chapter the chief aim will 
be to give an account of how this enormous acquisition was made. 

Tyler and the Whigs 

Harrison was inaugurated on March 4, 1841, and he was imme- Harrison 
diately besieged by an army of politicians as hungry for office as Awa y 
those who had besieged Jackson twelve years before. The moment 
the Whigs came into power they accepted the spoils system as 
sound policy, although while out of office they had denounced it 
in terms of bitter eloquence. So insistent were the place-hunters 
that the new President could find no rest. They literally took 
possession of the White House, sleeping in its halls and corridors 
so that in the morning they might waylay the President betimes 
and be the first to press their claims. Harrison swung the party 
ax with vigor, but he was not to swing it long, for precisely one 
month after the date of his inauguration he died. Although he had 

321 



322 



'MANIFEST DESTINY" 



CHAP. 
XVI 



For the 
First Time 
a Vice- 
President 
Becomes 
President 



Tyler and 
Clay 



nearly reached the allotted span of three score years and ten there 
is no doubt that his death was hastened by the tireless importuni- 
ties of the office-seeking crowds. 

John Tyler now succeeded to the Presidential chair. This was 
the first time in our history that a Vice-President was called upon 
to assume the duties of the President, and Tyler's task was sur- 
rounded with many difficulties. When he was put upon the ticket 
by the Whigs to get the Clay vote he was not thought of in con- 
nection with the leadership that goes with the Presidency. Many 
of the old leaders, therefore, were disposed to belittle his authority 
and to regard him as a sort of acting President. But Tyler 
promptly asserted himself and let it be known that he would claim 
that he was "by the Constitution, by election, and by the act of 
God President of the United States. ' ' His chief trouble was with 
the Whigs who had elected him and with their leader, Henry Clay. 
The Kentuckian was planning to be candidate in the next Presi- 
dential race, and the new President had ambitions in the same 
direction. Thus the "two flints clashed and struck fire, and the 
friendship of twenty years was gone." The occasion for the 
collision was a controversy over the rechartering of the National 
Bank which Jackson had destroyed. Tyler was in favor of a new 
charter, but, being a stanch States' rights man and a Southerner to 
the core, he wanted a decentralized bank. Accordingly his secre- 
tary of the treasury, by request of Congress, drew up a plan for a 
bank differing from the former institution in two respects: (1) its 
seat of incorporation was to be in the District of Columbia; and 
(2) its power to establish branch banks was to be dependent upon 
the consent of the States in which the branches were to be estab- 
lished. Clay, who wanted a bank modeled after the plan of the 
old one, caused the President's bill to be modified in respect to the 
power of establishing branches, and in its modified form it was 
passed, by a vote of twenty-six to twenty-three in the Senate and 
128 to ninety-seven in the House. The actual difference between 
the bill which was passed and the one which was drafted under the 
direction of the President was slight. Nevertheless, when the bill 
came to Tyler for his signature, he vetoed it, his objection being 
that the powers given to the Bank were unwise and unconstitu- 
tional. An effort was made to pass the bill over the veto but a 
two thirds majority could not be mustered. Still the Whig leaders 
did not despair. Desirous of preventing a party quarrel, they 



TYLER AND THE WHIGS 323 

asked the President for the outline of a bill which he would sign. xvi AP ' 

Such an outline was given and a second bank bill was prepared 

and passed in the hope and expectation that it would receive the 
approval of the President. But again the Whigs were disap- 
pointed ; Tyler vetoed this bill also, and his veto could not be 
overcome. 

Tyler's second veto resulted in his political undoing. He was 
accused of breaking his word in regard to the second bank bill 
and he was branded as a traitor to his party. The Whig members 
of Congress joined in issuing to the people of the nation a "mani- 
festo" proclaiming that all political alliance between them and 
John Tyler was at an end, and that those who had brought him 
into power would henceforth wash their hands of him. Every 
member of the cabinet — Tyler had retained Harrison's cabinet — 
resigned except Webster, and the President was compelled to 
surround himself with a body of advisers among whom there was 
no strong party cohesion. Deserted by the Whigs, Tyler turned to 
the Democrats for support, but his former associates, regarding 
him as a renegade, would not trust him. Tyler throughout his 
term remained in a state of painful isolation. Only a few members 
of Congress, known as the "corporal's guard," stood by him and 
recognized him as their leader. 

The breach with Tyler demoralized the Whigs. They had cher- l he -. « 

J ° •> Preemption 

ished hopes of doing great things for the country, but with the ^t.^ the 
President and Congress at cross-purposes most of their well- 1842 
meaning plans were brought to naught. The story, therefore, of 
the achievements of the Tyler administration is a short one. Of 
the laws passed only two were of real significance. One of these 
was the Preemption Act of 1841. Preemption acts had been enacted 
as early as 1830, but the law of 1841 gave permanence to the pre- 
emption policy and encouraged the pioneer to push out into 
unoccupied lands and begin the actual work of settlement with the 
assurance that his land would not be sold away from him. The 
other important law was the Tariff Act of 1842. The gradual 
reduction of rates provided by the compromise tariff of 1833 x had 
been faithfully carried out, and by 1842 the minimum horizontal 
rate of 20 per cent had been reached. But inasmuch as the 
Treasury was now in sore need of funds the low tariff continued in 
force only a few months. After a struggle with Tyler the advo- 
1 See p. 284. 



324 



MANIFEST DESTINY" 



CHAP. 
XVI 



The 

Webster- 

Ashburton 

Treaty 



cates of protection succeeded in carrying through a measure 
imposing increased rates upon salt, glass, iron, cotton, woolens, 
and silks. 

In diplomatic matters Tyler's administration was not without 
its laurels. When the Whigs came into power our relations with 
Great Britain were unsatisfactory by reason of a long-standing 
dispute touching the boundary line between Maine and Canada. 
There were also subjects of irritation arising out of attempts of 
American citizens to assist rebellion in Canada. It was to settle 
these and other questions that Webster, the secretary of state, 
remained in Tyler's cabinet. The differences between the two 
countries were adjusted by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty con- 
cluded in 1842. The boundary dispute, which at times had been 
so bitter as to threaten hostilities between the people of Maine and 
those across the border, was settled by Webster and Ashburton in 
a spirit of friendship by making mutual concessions. A line run- 
ning from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains marking the 
northern limits of the United States was agreed upon. The boun- 
dary then established has remained unchanged to the present time. 



The Texan Question 



While Webster was engaged in the negotiations with Great 



The Ameri- 
canization 

of Texas Britain, President Tyler was quietly taking steps for the annexa 



tion of Texas to the United States. The Texan question had been 
before the American people for many years. As early as 1800 
Philip Nolan and a band of adventurers left Natchez and made 
their way westward through the wilderness to Texas. Here they 
employed their time in capturing wild ponies until they themselves 
were captured by Spanish officials, for Texas at the time belonged 
to Spain. The expedition of Nolan was the beginning of a move- 
ment that ended only with the complete occupation of Texas by 
Americans. 

In the treaty made with Spain in 1819 * assurance was given to 
the United States that grants of land in Texas to American citizens 
would be regarded as valid. Americans were not slow in taking 
advantage of this concession. In 1820 Moses Austin began the 
founding of a colony of Americans in Texas but died before Ins 
work was completed. His scheme, however, was carried forward 

1 See p. 248. 



THE TEXAN QUESTION 325 

by his son, Stephen, who secured an enormous tract of land between cha p. 

Nacogdoches and San Antonio and established a colony of three 

hundred families. Other colonists followed Austin, and as early 
as 1828 the population of Texas consisted of 12,000 Americans and 
only 3000 Mexicans. 

By this time Texas was no longer under the dominion of Spain, Texas an 

J ° . Independent 

for the Spanish yoke had been thrown off in 1821 when Mexico Nation 
revolted and became an independent nation. The new republic 
was federal in its organization, with Texas as one of its States. 
But as Texas was now chiefly an American community it did not 
enjoy its connection with Mexico. Friction between it and the 
Mexican Government soon arose, and by 1836 the Texans were at 
war with Mexico, fighting for absolute independence. In this 
struggle they were aided by Americans. General Sam Houston, 
an American, led an army of Texas adherents against the Mexican 
leader Santa Anna, defeating him at San Jacinto in April, 1836. 
With this victory the independence of Texas was achieved; it was 
organized as a separate republic and in 1837 its independence was 
recognized by the United States. France gave recognition in 1839, 
Holland and Belgium in 1840. Great Britain withheld recognition 
until 1842. 

It was neither the purpose nor the desire of Texas to remain an *^ es ' 
independent nation. In the very year in which she began her Annexation 
career in self-government her people by an overwhelming vote 
expressed a wish to be annexed to the United States. There were 
strong reasons for this choice, for Texas was now American through 
and through. Not only did her population consist largely of native 
American stock but a majority of her inhabitants were actually 
American citizens. Of the sixty signers of the Texas declaration 
of independence fifty-three were citizens of the United States. 
And there were strong reasons why Americans should welcome the 
overtures of the Texans. Annexation would add to the United 
States a region larger than France. Then, too, annexation fitted 
in well with a wise foreign policy. Foreign nations were seeking 
to establish with Texas commercial relations that would work to 
the disadvantage of the United States. England especially was 
endeavoring to establish her influence in Texas, and if proffers of 
annexation should be refused by the Americans there was danger 
that the new republic would throw itself into the outstretched arms 
of the British. 



326 



"MANIFEST DESTINY" 



CHAP. 
XVI 



Opposition 
to Annexa- 
tion 



A Treaty 

Which 

Failed 



The Nomi- 
nations and 
Issues in 
1844 



But annexation to the United States was bound to meet with 
opposition from Northern sources. Texas was a community of 
slaveholders, and to annex it would enormously extend the area of 
slavery and thus rob the North of the advantage it held under the 
Missouri Compromise. The question of annexation was at once 
brought before Jackson, but he would take no action. The Mexican 
Government had warned the United States that annexation meant 
war; and as Jackson was not ready for that, the question was 
temporarily postponed. When it came before Van Buren he 
declined to consider it, deeming it unwise to agitate the subject 
at that time. Like Jackson, he felt that the proposition of annexa- 
tion involved the question of a war with Mexico. 

Under the Tyler administration the Texan question was pushed 
to the front to the exclusion of everything else relating to foreign 
affairs. Tyler yearned for Texas, and a few months after his 
inauguration he consulted with Webster about securing the neigh- 
boring republic by treaty. Webster would have nothing to do 
with the matter; but Tyler went ahead nevertheless with his plans, 
conducting negotiations in an extremely secret manner, and by 
April, 1844, he was able to lay before the Senate a treaty signed 
by the Texas authorities incorporating the republic into the Ameri- 
can Union. When submitting the treaty Tyler said: "Texas by a 
solemn vote of her people embracing all her population but ninety- 
three persons, declared her anxious desire to be admitted into 
association with the United States. Now by the action of her 
constituted authorities, sustained as it is by popular sentiment, 
she reaffirms her desire for annexation. This course has been 
adopted by her without the employment of any sinister measures 
on the part of this Government. No intrigue has been set on foot 
to accomplish it. Texas herself wills it." But Texas and Tyler 
had to wait. If the President had had a party behind him the 
treaty would doubtless have been promptly ratified. But with the 
solid opposition of the Wlrigs and only the partial support of the 
Democrats his treaty failed decisively; thirty-five votes were cast 
against it and only sixteen for it. 

Although the treaty was rejected, Tyler had carried the annexa- 
tion question far enough to make it the leading issue in the cam- 
paign of 1844. And a veritable firebrand it proved to be. Many 
of the leading politicians would gladly have dodged the issue. The 
Whigs did dodge it. They unanimously nominated Henry (May 



THE TEXAN QUESTION 327 

for President, and declared for a protective tariff, but in regard cthap. 

XVI 

to the Texas question their platform was silent. The Democrats, ■ 

however, met the question squarely. In their platform they de- 
clared : "That our title to the whole of the territory of Oregon is 
clear and unquestionable ; that no portion of the same ought to be 
ceded to England or to any other power and that the occupation 
of Oregon and the reannexation of Texas at the earliest practicable 
period are great American measures which this convention recom- 
mends to the cordial support of the Democracy of the Union." 
They used the word "reannexation," because it was their con- 
tention that Texas was a part of the Louisiana Purchase, and that 
it had been "disannexed" by the treaty of 1819. The Democrats 
went into convention with Van Buren as their leading candidate. 
The ex-President had a majority of the delegates pledged to him 
but the convention by adopting the two thirds rule made his nomi- 
nation impossible. Tyler came forward as a candidate, but his 
"corporal's guard" of office-holders could do little for him and he 
withdrew from the race. The choice fell upon James K. Polk of 
Tennessee. Polk was not well known and because of his obscurity 
he was called the "dark horse." But he was a shrewd politician 
and he knew "how to pull and sweat in the party traces." 

The campaign of 1844 was one of great seriousness, and the The 
battle was hotly contested. "Manifest destiny" was on the side ampaign 
of the Democrats, for they appealed to the spirit of expansion. 
They demanded both Oregon and Texas and thus pleased all 
sections of the country. The people of the North wanted Oregon 
and those of the South wanted Texas. The Whigs relied largely 
upon the personality of their candidate to bring them success; as 
well they might, for Clay was undoubtedly the most popular man 
in the United States. But Clay blew hot and cold on the Texas 
question. He explained his position on the subject of annexation, 
but the only effect of his explanation was to make it clear that he 
was trying to please both sides. This equivocation was so irritating 
to the abolitionists that they refused to vote for him. Indeed, 
they went further and drew votes away from him by again nomi- 
nating Birney as the candidate of the Liberty party. The result 
of the election was a victory for the Democrats, but it was a close 
contest. 

The election could fairly be interpreted as an approval of the Annexation 
policy of annexation. This was Tyler's view and he hastened to 



328 



MANIFEST DESTINY" 



CHAP. 
XVI 



Texas and 
the Slavery 
Question 



the consummation of his long-cherished scheme. In his message 
to Congress in December, 1844, he urged that Texas be admitted 
to the Union by the method of a joint resolution of both houses. 
Congress took up the matter at once and in February, 1845, passed 
a joint resolution providing that the territory "rightfully belong- 
ing to the Republic of Texas" might be erected into a new State 
to be called the State of Texas and that after a government repub- 
lican in form had been established by the people of Texas it might 
be admitted as one of the States of the Union. The resolution 
further provided that additional States not exceeding four in 
number might be formed from the territory of Texas with its 
consent. Still another provision was that States carved out of 
Texas south of the Missouri Compromise line should be allowed to 
enter the Union with or without slavery as the people of each might 
desire ; while in those north of the line slavery was to be pro- 
hibited. Since the Texans were eager to enter the Union, the 
annexation project was hurried along. On March 3 Tyler signed 
the resolution ; in October the people of Texas ratified a State con- 
stitution ; and in December, 1845, Texas was admitted as a State. 
In the constitution adopted by the "Lone Star" State slavery was 
recognized and protected. 

In the struggle for annexation the slavery issue played a promi- 
nent part, but the success of the movement was not due wholly to 
the activity of slaveholders. "That the slaveholding interest 
alone," says G. P. Garrison, "could not have accomplished annexa- 
tion goes without saying. The States it controlled did not have 
votes enough for that in either house of Congress. The result can 
hardly be interpreted otherwise than as a triumph of the impulse 
toward expansion which has so often manifested itself in our 
history and against which the brave energy of John Quincy Adams 
and the matchless eloquence of Clay and Webster were arrayed in 
vain. Had there been no slavery in Texas the triumph would have 
been achieved with less than half the struggle. Had there been 
none in either country there would have been no struggle at all." 



The Oregon Question 



Poik and While land hunger and "manifest destiny" were carrying us 

Question into the Southwest they were at the same time luring us out into 

the far Northwest. No sooner was Polk inaugurated in March, 



THE OREGON QUESTION 329 

1845, than he entered upon the policy of expansion which had been chap. 

the keynote of his campaign. In the execution of his plans he was 

swift, bold, and decisive. "No former President, perhaps, at the 
outset of his administration ever had so clear and positive a per- 
ception of what he meant to do, and none ever despatched his 
ambitious program more thoroughly." He first addressed himself 
to the Oregon question. We have seen 1 that in 1818 the American 
and British governments entered into an agreement for the joint 
occupation of the Oregon country, the region lying between the 
Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains and between the parallels 
of 42° and 54° 40' north latitude. In 1828 the joint occupation 
agreement was indefinitely continued, with the understanding that 
the arrangement might be terminated by either party at any time 
upon twelve months' notice. But joint occupancy could be prac- 
ticable only so long as the occupants consisted of a few trappers 
and fur traders scattered in different sections of the vast region. 
As soon as the settlers should become numerous it would be neces- 
sary to establish a single sovereignty. This was becoming evident 
long before Polk was called upon to deal with the question. As 
early as 1835 small bodies of American pioneers were moving into 
Oregon, and by Polk's time the stream of emigration had grown 
to be strong and steady. An eye-witness at Independence, Kansas, 
describing the trains of pioneers as they passed along in the spring 
of 1845 on their way to Oregon, writes as follows : 

We see a long train of wagons coming through our streets. As n the 
they go they are hailed with joyous shouts of welcome by their q*^ 
fellow-travellers. Looking out at the passing train we see, among 
the foremost, a comfortable covered wagon with one of its sheets 
so drawn aside as to reveal a quiet-looking woman seated inside, 
and sewing. Then comes team after team, each drawn by six or 
eight stout oxen driven by stout sons of Anak, not one of them 
under six-feet-two in his stockings. We are in a perfect Oregon 
fever. Then comes stock of every description — negroes, horses, 
mules, cows, oxen, and there seems to be no end of them. Not less 
than two or three thousand people are gathered at this point, ready 
to set off over the broad prairie about May tenth. A train of two 
hundred wagons left our town on Tuesday and Wednesday last, 
bound for Oregon. Yesterday twenty-eight passed this town. 
They came from about Fort Madison, Iowa. Two hundred more 
have crossed the Missouri at St. Joseph and fifty are said to be 

1 See p. 230. 



330 



MANIFEST DESTINY" 



x|f p - crossing at the Lower Ferry. May fourth, the advance guard set 
off from Independence in four companies. Men and boys num- 
bered four hundred and two ; women and girls, three hundred and 
thirty-four ; the wagons one hundred and sixty-five, and the horses, 
mules, oxen, and cattle over three thousand. One who met the 
great body of emigrants after they had set out on their long 
journey declares that the trail from fifteen miles beyond the Big 
Blue to the State line was crowded with emigrants, and that he 
passed five hundred wagons and the usual proportion of men, 
women, children, and cattle. 

Joint Accordingly, when Polk took up the Oregon question the prob- 

Occupancy , -i-i-ni-ii i-i-i 

Terminated lem was already virtually solved ; the country was already m the 
possession of Americans. Still, there were important diplomatic 
questions to be settled. In the first place, the joint occupancy 
would have to be terminated. This was done in a straightforward 
and expeditious manner. In his first annual message in December, 

1845, Polk recommended that Great Britain be notified that the 
agreement of joint occupancy was no longer in force and that the 
jurisdiction of the United States Government be extended over the 
citizens of the United States in Oregon. Congress acceded; in May, 

1846, Great Britain was notified and the Federal Government 
assumed full authority in the Oregon country. 

What were to be the boundaries of Oregon? This question gave 
rise to sharp passages in diplomacy and at times even threatened 
the peace of the two nations. The British Government claimed that 
the Columbia River was the southern boundary of British territory 
in Oregon. The American Government contended that British 
claims could not be allowed any further south than 54° 40'. The 
region, therefore, between the Columbia River and the parallel of 
54° 40' was in dispute. In the campaign of 1844 the slogan had 
been "fifty -four forty or fight," and in his message Polk expressed 
the opinion that the claim of the United States to the whole of 
Oregon as far north as 54° 40' was good and should be upheld. 
But the President was not ready to press this claim so hard as to 
challenge Great Britain to a trial of strength. For, as we shall 
presently see, events at this time were rapidly tending toward 
hostilities with Mexico, and it would have been sheer madness to 
open a quarrel with Great Britain and drive her into an alliance 
with our prospective enemy. Such a course would doubtless have 
ended in our losing the whole of Oregon. In truth we were not 



The Boun- 
daries of 
Oregon 



Program 



ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA AND NEW MEXICO 331 

prepared to fight both Mexico and Great Britain, and our states- chap. 

men did not intend to go to war over the Oregon boundary. The 

ery of "fifty-four forty or fight" was for political effect only. 
Even while it was ringing on the stump our diplomacy was looking 
to a settlement of the controversy by compromise. In July, 1846, 
a compromise was reached: it was agreed that the dividing line 
between American and British territory in Oregon should be the 
forty-ninth parallel from the Rocky Mountains to the middle of the 
channel which separates Vancouver Island from the mainland, and 
thence should run southerly along the middle of that channel and 
the Strait of Fuca to the Pacific. Thus the long mooted Oregon 
question was settled without a war, and in a manner honorable to 
both nations. 

The Acquisition of California and New Mexico 

The annexation of Oregon was only one item in Polk's program Poik-s 
of expansion, and by no means the most important item; for he 
desired to extend our boundaries so as to include the Mexican 
province of California. Soon after taking the oath of office he said 
to a member of his cabinet : ' ' There are four great measures which 
are to be the measures of my administration : one, a reduction of 
the tariff ; a another, the independent treasury ; 2 third, the set- 
tlement of the Oregon question ; and lastly, the acquisition of 
California." Polk, being an ardent lover of peace, hoped that he 
might be able to secure California by the mild methods of diplo- 
macy. The situation encouraged him to believe that the acquisition 
could be peacefully made. There were claims held by American 
citizens against the Mexican Government amounting to several 
million dollars. Since these claims were long overdue and there 
was no money in the Mexican treasury with which they could be 

1 This reduction was made in 1846 by an act usually known as the Walker 
Tariff. This tariff lowered the duties on many commodities and fixed the rates 
with little regard to the principles of protection. While it was not a free 
trade measure pure and simple it nevertheless squinted strongly in that direc- 
tion. It remained in force until 1857 and was popular in the South and West. 
In the Middle States and New England it met with much opposition. 

a The law establishing the Independent Treasury (see p. 292) had been 
repealed in the early days of Tyler's administration. In accordance with Polk's 
program the Independent Treasury was reestablished in 1846, and the measure 
for which Van Buren had struggled so long and for which he had sacrificed his 
political future became an accepted feature of our financial policy. It re- 
mained in force until 1919, when the Independent Treasury was abolished. 



332 



"MANIFEST DESTINY" 



ciL\r. 

XVI 



Why Polk 

Wanted 

California 



paid, why could they not be paid for in land? Polk was all too 
willing to make such a settlement: cede him California, he said, 
and he would assume the claims and give a good round sum in 
addition. The question of the Texas boundaries was also pending. 
In the joint resolution annexing Texas it was provided that the 
boundaries between Mexico and Texas should be adjusted by the 
Government of the United States. In the negotiations for the 
adjustment of these boundaries why could it not be arranged that 
they be extended so as to reach the Pacific? Here again Polk was 
eager to give money for land. In his diary when touching upon 
the subject of a Mexican mission he wrote: "One great object of 
the Mission, as stated by the President, would be to adjust a per- 
manent boundary between Mexico and the United States and that 
in doing this the Minister would be instructed to purchase for a 
pecuniary consideration Upper California and New Mexico." 

Polk could allege that something else than land hunger urged 
him on to the acquisition of California. He feared that if the 
United States failed to take the province some foreign power might 
seize it. California, being inhabited at the time by only a handful 
of Mexicans, was unable to defend itself. Nor could it be defended 
by the weak and inefficient central government of Mexico. It 
would, therefore, be the easy prey of any nation that might come 
against it with the designs of conquest. Polk suspected that Great 
Britain harbored such designs, basing his suspicions partly on 
rumor and partly upon the fact that the British on the Pacific 
coast were acting in a mysterious manner. He was doubtless 
wrong in believing that Great Britain had any plans for spreading 
her power over California, yet the attitude of Great Britain had to 
be reckoned w r ith. The interests of Great Britain were opposed to 
the expansion of the great American republic, and it was her policy 
to keep California out of the hands of the Americans by any means 
short of actual warfare. She was not going to allow this great prize 
to fall into the lap of the United States as Texas had fallen if she 
could prevent it by diplomacy. But Polk believed that England 
meant to go beyond diplomacy and take possession of the province 
by force, if force should be necessary. Against this he turned a 
face as hard as flint. "No future European colony," he said in a 
message in December, 1845, "shall with our consent be planted or 
established on any part of the North American continent." This 
vigorous declaration had the effect upon England the President 



ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA AND NEW MEXICO 333 

intended it should have; "silently she retreated before the thun- ™f p - 

ders of the Monroe Doctrine." 

Polk, always a most energetic executive, hurried on with his r slide11 is 

' Sent to 

plans. With the consent of his cabinet he secretly appointed John Mexico 
Slidell as minister to Mexico, and despatched him in November, 
1845, to the Mexican capital. The first task imposed upon Slidell 
was to renew the diplomatic relations which had been abruptly 
severed by Mexico immediately after the annexation of Texas. 
After securing formal recognition as a representative of the 
American Government he was to take up with the Mexican authori- 
ties the subjects of the claims and the boundaries. He was to insist 
upon the Rio Grande as the boundary between Texas and Mexico. 
If he could gain the consent of Mexico to fix the boundary from the 
mouth of the Rio Grande up to the middle of the principal stream 
to the point where it touches the line of New Mexico, thence west 
and north to the forty-second parallel, so as to include the whole 
within the United States, then this country would assume the 
payment of her citizens' claims against Mexico and would pay five 
millions in addition. Next the question of California was to be 
taken up. "If you can obtain a cession of the province," ran his 
instructions, "you will render immense service to your country 
and establish an enviable reputation for yourself. Money would 
be no object when compared with the value of the acquisition." 
For such a cession he was authorized to offer $25,000,000, in addi- 
tion to the assumption of the claims. 

No sooner had Slidell reached the Mexican capital than broad- MJssfon 
sides appeared in various sections of the city telling of his plans failure 
for negotiating with the Government for the sale of New Mexico 
and California. This revelation of Slidell 's purposes had a most 
damaging effect. Mexico at the moment was in a state of political 
upheaval, and when the news spread that the authorities were on 
the point of agreeing to a plan for the dismemberment of the 
republic there were charges of treason and clamors for war. The 
opposition to Slidell's reception as minister was too strong to be 
withstood. The existing Government refused to receive him and 
the revolutionary Government that was presently set up persisted 
in the refusal. Slidell's mission therefore ended in failure. "The 
action of two successive Mexican administrations in refusing to 
receive our American minister ended all further discussion," says 
George Lockhart Rives. ' ' Their decision had plainly been dictated 



334 



"MANIFEST DESTINY" 



CHAP. 
XVI 



Volunteers 
Caller! For 



by the exigencies of domestic politics. The opinions of the govern- 
ing class had been too deeply declared to make it possible for any 
government to enter at that time upon negotiations with the United 
States; and although the men who were actually intrusted with the 
responsibility of carrying on the affairs of the republic must have 
had some perception of the irresistible result of a conflict, they 
could not have remained in office for a single day if they had openly 
defied the public clamors for war." 

Polk was in no way deflected from his purpose by the bold 
attitude of the Mexicans. If they wanted war they might have it. 
He wanted peace but he also wanted California. Suspecting that 
there might be an outbreak of hostilities he ordered General 
Zachary Taylor to occupy Texas directly after it was annexed. A 
little later Taylor was sent across the Nueces into disputed terri- 
tory, his troops advancing as far as the Rio Grande. In April, 
1846, Polk heard of Slidell's ill success. And now the President 
could assume the role of the wolf in the fable and proclaim to the 
American people how the lamb had polluted the waters. On May 9 
he decided to ask Congress to declare war against Mexico on the 
ground that Slidell had been refused a hearing. On May 10 came 
a message that Mexicans had crossed the Rio Grande, that there 
had been a battle, and that a number of American soldiers had 
been killed. This news must have been soothing to Polk's con- 
science, for it gave him a better excuse for declaring war. He could 
now say to Congress, as he did say on May 13, that Mexico had 
passed the boundary of the United States [it was a disputed 
boundary] ; that our territory had been invaded by Mexican 
troops [there was no valid reason for calling it an invasion] ; and 
that American blood had been shed on American soil [it was 
disputed soil]. In vindication of our rights, and in defense of our 
territory, the President invoked the prompt action of Congress to 
recognize the existence of war. "War exists," he said, "and not- 
withstanding all our efforts to avoid it, exists by the act of Mexico 
herself." 

Congress, accepting the assertion that Mexico had begun the 
war, made a formal declaration of hostilities and authorized the 
President to raise an army of 50,000 men. Polk asked for volun- 
teers, because, in his opinion, ' ' a volunteer force is beyond question 
more efficient than any other description of citizen soldiers." The 
response to the call for volunteers indicated plainly that Polk's 



ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA AND NEW MEXICO 335 



policy of expansion had its strongest support in the West. "The 
West," says W. E. Dodd, "was in earnest and the declaration of 
war which the President managed to get Mexico to provoke was to 
all the great valley of the Mississippi a call to arms of the most 
urgent character. ... Of the total number of volunteers, 69,540, 
at least 40,000 were from the strictly Western States . . . while 



CHAP. 
XVI 




Ft.EsaveriWorth 




THE M.-N. WORK9 



Map of the war with Mexico 

from all the Northern States, with a population twice as great and 
wealth many times greater, only 7930 volunteers offered. Plainly 
the interest in the Mexican war was in the West and South and 
more in the former than in the latter." 

Polk started out "to conquer peace." He desired a short war ;'Conquer- 
and one in which there would be little shedding of blood. But it Peace" 
was neither a short war that he had to fight nor a little one. 
General Taylor who was on the scene with an army of regulars 



336 "MANIFEST DESTINY" 

xvf P- had already met the Mexicans in a battle at Palo Alto and Resaca 
de la Palma and had defeated them even before war had been 
formally declared. In September, 1846, Taylor, after a hard- 
fonght battle, captured the strongly fortified city of Monterey. In 
February, 1847, his army was attacked by Santa Anna at Buena 
Vista, but the Americans stubbornly held their ground. After 
the battle at Buena Vista the scene of the war shifted to Vera Cruz, 
where Winfield Scott, the commanding general of the American 
forces, landed in March with an army of 12,000 men. After taking 
Vera Cruz on March 29, Scott began a march to the City of Mexico. 
By August 10 the Americans had fought their way through the 
mountain passes of Cerro Gordo and had come to Pueblo. Here 
the Mexicans were offered liberal terms of peace. But the Mexicans 
are a brave people and their national spirit is strong. They 
rejected the olive-branch and rallied their forces for the further 
defense of their country. But it was of no use : Scott won victory 
after victory. On September 8 he took Molino del Rev; on Sep- 
tember 13 the strong fortress of Chapultepec fell ; and on September 
14 the American army triumphantly entered the City of Mexico 
and raised the American flag. After the surrender of the capital 
city there was no further resistance by the Mexicans at any place ; 
Polk had "conquered a peace." 
sdzed'by 8. While he was "conquering the peace" he was at the same time 
Americans conquering California. He had planned that in the event of 
hostilities he would seize the province by force. At the first crack 
of the gun, therefore, he hurried troops across the continent and 
the great prize was taken almost before the war had actually begun. 
As early as June, 1846, Colonel Stephen Kearny left Fort Leaven- 
worth and marched to Santa Fe. After capturing that town and 
taking possession of all New Mexico, he marched on to California. 
Upon arriving there, however, he found that American settlers had 
already declared California to be an independent, republic and 
that the province had been won for America by Lieutenant John C. 
Fremont who was in command of a small body of soldiers, and by 
Commodore Stockton who was hovering off the Pacific coast with a 
fleet. The conquest had been made without a struggle. "We 
simply marched," said one of Fremont's soldiers, "all over Cali- 
fornia from Sonoma to San Diego, and raised the American flag 
without opposition or protest. We tried to find an enemy, but we 
could not." 



CALIFORNIA AND NEW MEXICO 337 

Although Polk swept everything before him in the field, on the £yf p - 

forum he encountered opposition enough. In Congress and outside 

Whig leaders denounced the war with such vehemence that the ^he war 

° Denounced 

President was led to accuse them substantially of encouraging the whiieit 
enemy and giving him aid and comfort. The anti-war people, Progress 
however, were not to be deterred by charges of disloyalty and 
treason. In the House of Representatives, Thomas Corwin of Ohio, 
arraigning the policy of conquest, and retorting to Cass, who had 
remarked that we needed more room, flung prudence to the winds 
and said: ''If I were a Mexican I would tell you, 'Have you not 
room in your own country to bury your dead men? If you come 
into mine, we will greet you with bloody hands and welcome you 
to hospitable graves.' " A resolution was carried through the 
House declaring that the "war had been unnecessarily and uncon- 
stitutionally begun by the President of the United States." In 
Boston Charles Sumner in November, 1846, demanded the retreat 
of General Taylor and the instant withdrawal of the American 
forces. "Hang out, fellow citizens," he said, "the white banner of 
peace ; and may it be borne forward by an enlightened, conscientious 
people, aroused to condemnation of this murderous war. ' ' In Lex- 
ington, Kentucky, Clay made a speech which was epitomized in 
a series of resolutions unanimously adopted by his hearers : It was 
resolved that the Mexican -War had been brought on by deceit and 
unrighteousness; that Congress ought by some authentic act to 
declare the objects of the war and control the President in his 
prosecution of it; that the United States should require no dis- 
memberment of Mexico, but only a just and proper fixation of the 
limits of Texas ; and that we should disclaim all ' ' wish or desire on 
our part to acquire any foreign territory whatever for the purpose 
of propagating slavery, or of introducing slaves from the United 
States." But in vain did the Whigs cry out. In vain did they 
throw themselves against Polk's policy of expansion. The current 
of "manifest destiny" was running against them. 

With the occupation of Mexico City in September, 1847, the whatshaii 
whole of Mexico lay at the feet of the American victors. What was with the 
to be done with the conquered republic? A few anti-imperialists, Republic? 
Webster being one of them, were for withdrawing the troops, 
leaving Mexico in the full possession of all her territory. Dia- 
metrically opposed to the anti-imperialists were the ultra-expan- 
sionists who desired every foot of Mexican soil and the extinction 



338 



MANIFEST DESTINY" 



CHAP. 
XVI 



The 

Treaty of 
Guadalupe 
Hidalgo 



of the Mexican nation. Said Polk in his diary : "Extremes meet. 
Mr. Webster is for no territory, and Mr. Hannegan [a Senator 
from Indiana] is for all Mexico!" The sentiment for all was 
strong. Calhoun said in the Senate : ' ' There was at that time 
[at the close of the year 1847] a party scattered all over every 
portion of the country in favor of conquering the whole .of Mexico. 
To prove that such was the case it is only necessary to refer to the 



TABLE 

SHOWING THE 

TERRITORIAL GROWTH 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES 

Square Miles 
Original area . . . 827,844 
Louisiana Purchase 875,025 

Florida 70,107 

Texas 389, 795 

Oregon Country.. 288,689 
Mexican Cession.. 523,802 
Gadsden Purchase 30,211 

Alaska 599,446 

Total 3,610,919 




The Westward Extension 

proceedings of numerous large public meetings, to declarations 
repeatedly made in the public journals, and to opinions expressed 
by the officers of the army and individuals of standing and influ- 
ence, to say nothing of declarations made here and in the other 
House of Congress." 

Neither the anti-imperialists nor the ultra-expansionists had 
their way. A middle course was followed. Polk declared that he 
had never contemplated a "permanent conquest of the Republic of 
Mexico" nor the extinction of its nationality. He was satisfied 



CALIFORNIA AND NEW MEXICO 



339 



with the territory north of the Rio Grande. He therefore accepted 
the treaty negotiated at Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848. 
By the terms of this treaty New Mexico, California, and the dis- 
puted portion of the Texas territory — the part between the Nueces 
and Rio Grande rivers — were ceded to the United States. For the 
territory thus ceded the United States was to assume the payment 
of the claims of its citizens on the Mexican Government and to pay 
in addition thereto the sum of $15,000,000. 

Thus during the administrations of Tyler and Polk we extended 
our boundaries to the Pacific and added more than a million square 
miles to our territory. "New Mexico and Upper California," said 
Polk by way of assessing the value of the new acquisitions, "now 
constitute a part of our country. It would be difficult to estimate 
the value of these possessions to the United States. They constitute 
of themselves a country large enough for an empire, and their 
acquisition is second in importance to that of Louisiana in 1803. 
Rich in mineral and agricultural resources, with a climate of great 
salubrity, they embrace the most important ports in the whole 
Pacific States. The excellent harbors of Upper California will 
under our flag afford security and repair to our commercial marine. 
... In this vast region, whose rich resources are soon to be 
developed by American energy and enterprise, great must be the 
augmentation of our commerce, and with it new and profitable de- 
mands for mechanic labor in all its branches and new and valuable 
markets for our manufactures and agricultural products. In the 
hands of Mexico the territories now ceded had remained, and it is 
believed would have continued to remain, almost unoccupied and of 
little value to her or to any other nation, whilst as a part of our 
Union they will be productive of vast benefits to the United States, 
to the commercial world, and to the general interests of mankind. ' ' 



CHAP. 
XVI 



Polk's 
Ass> ssment 
of His 
Achieve- 
ments 



Suggested Readings 

The first "dark horse" : Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 206-225. 

Annexation of Texas : Garrison, pp. 85-141. 

Conquering a peace : Hitchcock, pp. 189-197, 208-230. 

Acquisition of California : Garrison, pp. 234-238. 

The Tariff, 1830-60 : Taussig, pp. 109-154. 

The free-soil campaign of 1848 : Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 226-243. 

United States as a Pacific Ocean power : Semple, pp. 420-435. 



XVII 
"THE ROARING FORTIES" 

AN account has just been given of the diplomatic and military 
events that led during the administrations of Tyler and Polk 
to the extension of our borders to the Rio Grande and the Pacific. 
In this red-letter decade — "the roaring forties" it has been called 
— there was amazing, almost feverish progress in all the depart- 
ments of American life. Industry and commerce flourished, in- 
vention came forward to stimulate human effort, and the wave of 
civilization rolled westward with unusual strength and swiftness. 

Great Inventions 

The Plow Foremost among the factors of America's progress in the forties 

was the inventive genius of the period, and foremost among the 
great inventions were those that were making the conquest of the 
soil an easier task. For at this time improvements in the imple- 
ments of tillage came thick and fast. The plow was becoming an 
instrument that could do its work rapidly and well. The impor- 
tance of the plow in the development of the country was appreci- 
ated by Thomas Jefferson, who at an early date had turned his 
attention to mold-boards and by 1793 had invented one that was 
constructed on mathematical principles and that could move 
through the ground and turn the sod with little resistance. About 
the time Jefferson was experimenting with mold-boards, Charles 
Newbold, a farmer of Burlington, New Jersey, was working on an 
iron plow that was to take the place of the old patchwork affair 
of wood and iron. By 1796 Newbold had invented a plow made 
wholly of iron, the point, share, and mold-board all being cast in 
one piece. But he could not sell his iron plows; farmers were 
afraid that iron would poison the crops and cause weeds to grow. 
Nevertheless, the iron plow was to have its day. Jethro Wood of 
Scipio, New York, began as early as 1814 to take out patents for 
improved plows, and by 1825 he had constructed an iron plow, the 

340 



GREAT INVENTIONS 341 

several parts of which — the point, the share, and mold-board — x\i^' 

were so fastened together that when one piece wore out or was 

broken, it could readily be replaced by another. Wood's plow 
was what the farmer needed, and by 1840 it was coming into gen- 
eral use. Its inventor met with opposition and injustice, and lost 
a competency in fighting infringements upon his patent. "Al- 
though Wood," said a United States commissioner of agriculture, 
' ' was one of the greatest benefactors to mankind, he never received 
for all his thought, anxiety, and expense, a sum of money sufficient 
to defray the expenses of a decent burial." Yet every year added 
to the debt America owed to this inventor. "No citizen of the 
United States," said William H. Seward, "has ever conferred 
greater economical benefits on his country than Jethro Wood. ' ' 

Improved plows made it possible for farmers to raise fields of The Reaper 
grain vastly larger than had ever been raised before. But it was 
of no use to raise more grain than could be cut within the brief 
period of harvest time. If the broad prairies were to be plowed 
and planted on a large scale there would have to be a reaping 
machine that would cut the grain much faster than human hands 
could cut it with the old-fashioned scythe or sickle. Invention was 
prompt in providing such a machine. As early as 1800 inventors 
in Europe and America had begun to tax their wits to give the 
farmer the kind of reaper he needed, and after many years of 
experiment an American succeeded in making the first machine that 
would actually cut grain. In the summer of 1831 Cyrus McCor- 
mick, a young blacksmith living in the rich grain-growing valley 
of the Shenandoah in Virginia, made a trial of a reaper which he 
and his father had invented, and the trial was successful. With 
two horses he cut six acres of oats in an afternoon. "Such a 
thing," says H. N. Casson, the biographer of McCormick, "at the 
time was incredible. It was equal to the work of six laborers with 
scythes or twenty-four peasants with sickles. It was as marvellous 
as though a man had walked down the street carrying a dray horse 
on his back." McCormick took out his first patent in 1834, and, 
making improvements from time to time, by 1840 he had a reaper 
that would do excellent work. In 1844 he took a trip through the 
West, passing through Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois. As he passed 
through Illinois he realized how badly the reaper was needed. He 
saw great fields of ripe wheat thrown open to be devoured by hogs 
and cattle because there were not enough laborers to harvest the 



342 



THE ROARING FORTIES" 



CHAP. 
XVII 



The 

Threshing- 
machine 



America the 
Paradise of 
the Farmer 



crops. The farmers had worked day and night and their wives 
and children had helped, but they could not harvest the grain ; 
they had raised more than the scythe and sickle could possibly cut. 
McCormick's visit showed him that the West was the natural home 
for his reaper. In 1847 he moved to Chicago, built a factory, and 
began to make reapers. In less than a year he had orders for 500 
machines, and before ten years had passed 25,000 were in use. 

But the grain had to be separated from the straw. Here, too, 
invention came to the aid of the farmer. Along with the reaper 
appeared the threshing-machine, which by 1840 was coming into 
general use, replacing the flail and the tramping-out process. At 
first the threshing-machine only threshed out the grain, leaving 
grain, chaff, and straw mixed together, but by 1850 improvements 
had been made so that clean grain could be separated from the 
chaff and straw. 

The appearance of these machines was the greatest event in the 
history of agriculture. Thousands of reapers were sent abroad 
with the result that the food supply of the whole world was in- 
creased. The United States became the paradise of the farmer and 
his barns were soon bursting with grain. In 1847 a high official 
of the Government could proudly say : 

In surveying the agricultural productions of the Union we are 
struck not only with their abundance, but with their great variety 
and value. ... In the North we have rich and abundant pastur- 
age, giving forth the valuable products of the flock and dairy; in 
the middle and western regions of the Union, corn in all its varie- 
ties is produced in superabundant quantities; and in the South, 
rice, cotton, and sugar grow luxuriantly ; and nearly all in sufficient 
quantities to supply our domestic consumption, and furnish large 
surpluses for exportation, thus furnishing nearly all the value as 
well as bulk of our foreign commerce. When contemplating the 
extent and the value of its products, the number of persons en- 
gaged, and the capital employed, the agriculturist may well believe 
that agriculture is the great transcendent interest of the Union 
upon which all other interests are dependent. And he has equal 
interest to console himself with the honorable character and exalted 
dignity of the pursuit in which he is engaged. Genius stoops from 
its lofty flight to lessen the burthen of his toil and mitigate the 
severity of his labors by conferring upon him useful implements 
and valuable machines. 



GREAT INVENTIONS 



343 



It was not only the farmer who profited by invention at this £^ p - 

time. Industry in all its departments was receiving the benefits 

of Yankee wit. Never before had so many patents been issued as Patents 
at this period. In 1836 it became necessary to organize the patent- 
office, and presently the new bureau had all it could do and more. 
Indeed, such was the rush of business that the commissioner of 
patents was soon constrained to cry out for assistance, saying that 
the work of his office was so heavy that it could not be done as it 
ought to be and that it had accumulated so as to cause serious 
embarrassment. During the forties nearly 6000 patents were 
issued, and at the end of the decade the number annually taken 
out was steadily- mounting. 

Among the great inventions of the period was a machine that The sewing 
could sew. The demand for a sewing-machine was pressing, for 
the wonderful weaving-machines in the great factories were turn- 
ing out more cloth than could be sewed into garments by the old- 
time needle, no matter how swiftly seamstresses plied their fingers 
or how long were the hours they spent at their task. The inventor 
of the sewing-machine was Elias Howe of Massachusetts. In 1845 
Howe completed a machine that could sew at the rate of two hun- 
dred and fifty stitches a minute, about seven times as fast as 
sewing could be done by the hand. Howe in 1846 secured a patent 
in the United States and then went to London, where he sold his 
English rights. But he made a bad bargain and soon found him- 
self a penniless stranger in a foreign land. Once when he was 
almost starving he borrowed a few pennies from a friend and 
bought some beans which he cooked and ate in his room. In 1849 
he returned to America as a steerage passenger, landing in New 
York with only a half-crown in his pocket. For more than five 
years he had given his whole life to his invention, and his reward 
was a small silver coin ! But now the tide turned. Finding that 
sewing-machines in considerable numbers were being sold in Bos- 
ton and elsewhere he brought suit for infringement and the courts 
decided in his favor. After this he reaped a golden harvest. 
Sewing-machines were manufactured by the hundreds of thou- 
sands, and upon every machine sold the inventor received a hand- 
some royalty. In one year Howe's income was $200,000, and 
altogether the profits from his sewing-machine amounted to more 
than $2,000,000. 



344 



THE R0ARING FORTIES" 



CHAP. 
XVII 



The 
Telegraph 



The prolific forties also gave to the world the telegraph, an in- 
vention which in shaping the destinies of mankind ranks with the 
printing-press and the steam-engine. The transmission of mes- 
sages by electricity had been undertaken by Englishmen with 
partial success, but the honor of inventing the first practical and 
useful system of electrical telegraphy was won by an American, 
S. F. B. Morse, an artist and professor of literature in New York. 
Morse worked many years with his batteries and wires; but he 
was a poor man and lacked the means of conducting experiments 
on a proper scale. At last, however, he was fortunate enough to 
make the acquaintance and gain the confidence of Alfred Vail, 
who furnished money for experiments and assisted the inventor in 
perfecting his system. Some of the most original and valuable 
features of the system were invented by Vail and not by Morse. 
In the face of repeated failures and much bad luck the two men 
worked patiently together, and by 1843 their invention was com- 
pleted. Morse applied to Congress to aid him in the installation 
of his system, with the result that in 1843 he secured an appropria- 
tion of $30,000 for establishing a telegraph line between Baltimore 
and Washington. Morse and Vail now hurried the work forward 
and by 1844 wires had been stretched between the two cities and 
the instruments were ready for trial. The apparatus was extremely 
clumsy and awkward, but it did its work well. On May 24, 1844, 
Morse sent from Washington the historic message, ' ' What hath God 
wrought ? ' ' and in the twinkling of an eye it was received by Vail 
at Baltimore, forty miles away. A few days later reports of the 
Democratic national convention in session at Baltimore were 
promptly wired to Washington where the telegraph office was 
thronged with members of Congress eager for the news. As soon 
as it was known that Polk was the choice of the convention a 
despatch was sent to Washington, and a congratulatory reply was 
received from the Democratic members of Congress twenty minutes 
after the nomination. Thus all doubt as to the practical value of 
the new system of communication was speedily removed. The 
telegraph was received with universal favor, and it was not long 
before it was in use in all parts of the globe. Thus was the inven- 
tion of Morse the first of a long series of electrical contrivances 
that one day was to make the world a huge whispering gallery. 



CHEAP LANDS AND IMMIGRATION 345 

Cheap Lands and Immigration 

While invention during the forties was doing so much for the xvn P * 
advancement of the arts and sciences, the leaven that was working 
most powerfully for progress was, as always, the abundance of Preemption 
cheap land. In 1845 the secretary of the treasury, R. J. Walker, Pohcy 
reported that there were subject to entry nearly 250,000,000 acres 
of public lands, an acreage that was of course enormously increased 
by the acquisition of territory made shortly afterward. Under the 
workings of the Preemption Act, which was passed in 1841, a 
settler could enter upon a tract not greater than 160 acres, build 
himself a home, improve his land, and feel that he was secure in 
his title. His preemption privileges gave him the first right against 
all comers of purchasing his tract from the Government on the most 
favorable terms, which were in most cases still $1.25 an acre. 1 
Preemption rights were granted to heads of families, widows, and ^J 1 ?™' 
single men over twenty-one years of age who were citizens or had FreeLan d 
declared their intention of becoming citizens. 

As cheap as land was and as favorable as were the terms under 
which the settler could secure it, there arose a demand that it be 
sold at a still cheaper rate. Walker was for reducing the price to 
twenty-five cents an acre. "Reduce the price which the laborer 
must pay for the public domain," he said; "bring thus the means 
of purchase within his power ; confine the sales to settlers and cul- 
tivators in limited quantities, preserve these hundreds of millions 
of acres as homes for the poor and oppressed ; reducing the taxes 
by reducing the tariff, and bringing down the prices which the 
poor are thus compelled to pay for all the necessaries and comforts 
of life, and more will be done for the benefit of American labor 
than if millions were added to the profits of manufacturing capital 
by the enactment of a protective tariff." In urging this policy 
Walker was responding to a demand for land reform made by 
the working-men of the East. The leaders of the free land move- 
ment consisted of a group of radicals, the most prominent of whom 
was George Henry Evans, a man of "undoubted sincerity and of 
no mean ability, who without the frills of a demagogue rendered 
a real service for the cause of labor and humanity." Evans was 
assisted by Horace Greeley, whose ' ' Tribune ' ' was now looked upon 
by thousands of wage-earners as a kind of political Bible. Besides 

1 See p. 218. 



346 "THE ROARING FORTIES" 

xvh P " lending the influence of his paper to the movement, Greeley did 

what he could in a political way. While a member of Congress 

in 1848 he introduced a bill authorizing "each landless citizen 
of the United States to occupy and appropriate a small allotment 
of national domain free of charge." But Evans and Greeley had 
to wait ; years were to pass before Congress would consent to a free 
homestead law. 
An influx of The movement for free land was closely connected with a labor 

Foreigners 

situation created by an unusual influx of immigrants; cheap lands 
were wanted for the foreigners who were pouring into the cities of 
the East. For in the forties the immigration that had flowed so 
long in a gentle stream suddenly became a flood. Before 1840 
the annual influx of foreigners was counted by the tens of thou- 
sands ; after that year it was counted by the hundreds of thousands. 
In the fifty-five years before 1845 fewer immigrants landed upon 
our shores than came in the last five years of the forties. In 1850 
the influx reached the startling figure of 310,000. At least three- 
fourths of these new-comers emigrated from the two countries, Ire- 
land and Germany. There was nothing new in the character of 
this immigration, for from the very beginning of our national 
existence, through decade after decade, an overwhelming majority 
of the foreigners who came to our land consisted of Irishmen and 
Germans. The immigration from Ireland in the forties was caused 
largely by hunger. In 1845, and also in 1846, misfortune came to 
the Irish in the shape of the potato murrain which attacked the 
plants and caused an almost complete failure of the crop. Since 
the potato was the principal food of the Irish people hardship and 
distress followed. Hundreds of thousands died of starvation. 
Panic-stricken at the fear of hunger, great throngs sought relief 
in flight. In 1847 more than 100,000 emigrants left Erin for 
America. The migration from Germany was due largely to revo- 
lutionary movements and political discontent. Nearly all Europe 
in the late forties passed through the throes of revolution. "A 
popular agitation," says W. A. Dunning, "was engendered that 
swept over all central and western Europe. Monarchies disap- 
peared, Republics and constitutions and bills of rights and new 
nationalities became the order of the day." One of the most con- 
spicuous results of this democratic movement was the emigration 
to America of many thousands of ardent, high spirited German 
liberals. German immigration alone in 18411 amounted to upwards 



THE OLD NORTHWEST AND THE NEW NORTHWEST 347 



of 60,000. The Irish new-comers for the most part remained in S?fj P - 

the East to swell the population of the cities, but the Germans in 

great multitudes went directly out to the Western country, "the 
glory of the sunshine in their faces and the love of the big prairies 
in their hearts. ' ' 



The Old Northwest and the New Northwest 

All these factors — cheap lands, immigration, inventions — worked 
together for the building up of the West. It has been said that 




The United States in 1850 

the reaper alone carried the frontier line westward at the rate of 
thirty miles a year. During the forties, therefore, the slogan of 
American life was Westward Ho ! Westward the course of empire 
took its way. 

As was to be expected, the Old Northwest at this time, a veritable The oid 

. . Northwest a 

beehive of industry, was bounding along at an astonishing rate. Beehive of 
During the decade the three States of Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana 
added more than a million to their population. By 1850 Ohio was 
pressing close upon Pennsylvania in the number of her inhabitants 
and was pushing to the front as an industrial and commercial as 
well as an agricultural community. She could boast of Cincinnati, 



348 



"THE ROARING FORTIES" 



CHAP. 
XVII 



the "Queen City of the West," and of four thriving cities besides 
— Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Toledo. All over the West 
towns and cities were springing up in a manner that caused the 
census-taker to rub his eyes in wonder. Between 1840 and 1850 
Pittsburg, Louisville, Detroit, and Cincinnati all doubled their 
population, while the increase in the case of St. Louis was nearly 
fivefold and in the case of Chicago sixfold. The growth of Chicago 
was unmatched in the history of urban development. As late as 
1838 wolves could be heard at night howling in the woods around 



A New 
Northwest 




Iowa 



Along the Upper Mississippi and Around the Great Lakes 

this little town. Twelve years later it had grown to be a city of 
30,000 and was bidding fair to outstrip all its rivals in the West. 

It was not in the Old Northwest, however, but in a new North- 
west, that progress was winning its greatest triumphs. In no 
part of the country did the upbuilding of new communities pro- 
ceed faster than along the banks of the upper Mississippi and along 
the shores of the Great Lakes. Into this New Northwest poured 
emigrants from every part of the Union. The Iowa country was 
the first to be opened up. No region could have had greater charms 
for the pioneer than Iowa. "Its prairies," says E. L. Sabin in his 
"The Making of Iowa," "were rounded and swelling, fringed by 



THE OLD NORTHWEST AND THE NEW NORTHWEST 349 

heavy timber. In the spring the grass was a tender green and chap. 

covered with flowers. The groves were rich in blossoming rosewood, ■ 

dogwood, wild cherry and wild plum. The wild rose was abundant. 
In the summer the prairies were like a sea, the tall coarse grass, 
dried to a golden hue, waving in the wind." The settlement of 
this beautiful country did not begin early, because it teemed with 
savage tribes. But the white man was bound to come and take 
possession. Piece by piece the red man lost his lands. In 1832 the 
Government bought of the Sacs and Foxes almost six million acres 
lying west of the Mississippi and north of the Des Moines. In 
this tract — known as the Black Hawk Purchase — there were valu- 
able deposits of lead. As soon as the Indians were out of the way 
there was a rush for the lead mines and the settlement of Iowa 
began in earnest. Dubuque was founded in 1833; Burlington in 
1834; Davenport in 1836. But as yet Iowa was without a govern- 
ment; for when Congress in 1821 set Missouri off as a State it 
failed to provide a government for the region at the north. In 
1834 a miner at Dubuque shot another miner and killed him, but 
there was no legal way of bringing the murderer to justice. The 
offender was made to suffer for his crime, nevertheless; he was 
brought before a jury which he himself was allowed to elect. The 
jury sat on a log and tried the case, and the prisoner was found 
guilty and was hanged. When this case of backwoods justice had 
been brought to the attention of Congress, steps were taken to 
provide the Iowa country with an orderly government. In 1838 
Iowa was made a Territory, and eight years later it entered the 
Union. The rush to the new State was headlong. Emigrants 
came from the South, from the East, and from Europe. Ferries 
were busy night and day carrying the pioneers across the Mis- 
sissippi, and steamboats on the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the 
Missouri were packed with passengers for Iowa. In ten years be- 
tween 1840 and 1850 the population of Iowa jumped from 40,000 
to 200,000. 

Rapid as was the growth of Iowa the growth of her eastern Black Hawk 
neighbor was even more rapid. Wisconsin for nearly fifty years 
was a portion now of this Territory, now of that, but in 1836 she 
became a Territory in her own name and right. Her early settle- 
ment was connected with a bitter struggle which the pioneers had 
with Black Hawk, a leader of the Sacs and Foxes and a fine speci- 
men of Indian manhood. Black Hawk was opposed to the treaties 



350 



THE ROARING FORTIES' 



CHAP. 
XVII 



Wisconsin 



Florida 



under which the whites were gaining possession of the upper Mis- 
sissippi country, and in 1831 he refused to move from lands which 
the whites had purchased. Troops were sent against the trouble- 
some chief, with the result that in the summer of 1832 his band 
of warriors was completely defeated and he himself was captured 
at Bad Ax in Wisconsin. The brave leader gradually became rec- 
onciled to the course things were taking. "I love my village," he 
said to his captors, "my corn-fields, and my people. I fought for 
them. They are now yours. I have looked upon the Mississippi 
River since I was a child. I love the great river. I have always 
dwelt upon its banks. I look upon it now and am sad. I shake 
hands with you. We are now friends." 

After the rout of the Indians at Bad Ax emigrants poured into 
Wisconsin in great throngs, coming by overland routes, by the 
Ohio and Mississippi, and by the Great Lakes. Steamers on the 
lakes at times were so crowded that passengers were obliged to 
sleep on mattresses spread on the decks and dining-room floor. 
The foundations of Wisconsin were laid by men who came from 
the older States, but in the late forties Germans began to stream 
in. "In New York," wrote a German settler of 1848, "every 
hotel-keeper and railroad agent, everyone who was approached 
for advice, directed men to Wisconsin." The settlement of Mil- 
waukee began in 1835, and its growth was like that of Jonah's 
gourd. Within a year it grew to be a village of 4000 people; and 
by 1850 it was a city with a population of over 20,000. The influx 
of settlers into Wisconsin flowed so strongly that by 1847 more 
than 200,000 whites had settled in the Territory. Wisconsin was 
now more than ready for statehood, and it was given its present 
boundaries and admitted into the Union. 

As Iowa and Wisconsin were free States, their entrance into 
the Union served as an offset to the admission of the two slave 
States of Florida and Texas. For during the forties the cotton 
kingdom bordering on the Gulf was rounded out and enlarged by 
the admission of Florida as well as Texas. In 1835 Florida Terri- 
tory had a vast amount of trouble with the Seminoles led by the 
chief Osceola, but after a long and expensive war the Indians were 
expelled. The people of Florida then began to seek admission into 
the Union. Congress, however, let them wait, as well it might, for 
the white population of this Territory as late as 1840 was less than 
30,000. But the admission of Florida was hastened by the admis- 



ALONG THE PACIFIC COAST 351 

sion of Iowa. In 1845 by the same enabling act both Florida and ^vi?' 

Iowa were elevated to the rank of States. The count now stood 

fifteen slave and fourteen free States. With the admission of 
Wisconsin the balance was restored. 

Along the Pacific Coast 

The westward moving procession extended clear across the con- 
tinent, ending only at the far-off shores of the Pacific. Between 
the western limits of Missouri and Iowa and the Rocky Mountains 
lay vast plains known as the Great American Desert. It was neces- 
sary, therefore, for emigrants bound for the coast to make a flight 
across the desert. The flight was perilous, but it did not deter 
the thousands of home-seekers. Oregon was organized as an Ameri- 
can community by the pioneers who went out in the early forties. 1 
In 1843 the settlers in the Willamette Valley met in a barn at 
Champoeg and drew up a plan for a temporary government which 
satisfied their needs for several years. But when it was definitely 
determined in 1846 that Oregon was to be American territory, the Oregon 
settlers asked Congress for a permanent government. Congress 
was slow to respond, delaying because of the slavery question. 
Everybody was in favor of giving Oregon a Territorial govern- 
ment; but the Northern members of Congress wished to exclude 
slavery from the new Territory, while the Southern members were 
opposed to making any provision at all in regard to slavery. After 
a long and earnest struggle a bill was passed in 1848 which gave 
Oregon a Territorial government but provided that the Ordinance 
of 1787 should be applied to the Territory. This, of course, had 
the effect of excluding slavery from Oregon. 

From Oregon our story carries us to California. When this The Spanish 

° J Missions 

fair country came into our possession it was inhabited chiefly by 
Spaniards and Indians. For more than a hundred years Spanish 
priests of the Jesuit and Franciscan orders had been establishing 
missions in California, and by the time the Americans appeared 
upon the scene there were missions at San Diego, San Luis Rey, 
Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Jose, and San Fran- 
cisco. The purpose of the mission was to teach the Indians Chris- 
tianity and to train them in the arts of civilized life. The mission 
was thus both a religious and an industrial community. "At sun- 
rise the bell sounded for the Angelus, and the Indians assembled 
^eep. 320. 



352 



THE ROARING FORTIES' 



CHAP. 
XVII 



Gold Dis- 
covered in 
California 



in the chapel, where they attended morning prayers and mass and 
received short religious instruction. Then came breakfast, after 
which they returned to their work. At 11 a. m. they ate dinner, 
and after that they rested until 2 p.m. Work was then resumed 
and continued until an hour before sunset, when the bell again 
tolled the Angelus. After prayers and the rosary the Indians 
supped, and then were free to take part in a dance or some such 
innocent amusement." The chief occupations at the mission were 
farming, cattle-raising, and the growing of fruits — apples, pears, 
peaches, apricots, plums, oranges, and pomegranates. In the fields 
the priests, setting an example of industry, worked side by side 
with the Indians. 

After the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo this peaceful, sleepy 
civilization quickly passed away. For just about the time the 
treaty was signed it was discovered that gold was abundant in the 
Sacramento Valley. The rumor of the discovery worked its way 
to the East and was converted into certainty by a message of 
President Polk in December, 1848. "The accounts of the abund- 
ance of gold," said the President, "are of such an extraordinary 
character as would scarcely command belief were they not cor- 
roborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service 
who have visited the mineral district. ' ' The eyes of the world were 
now fixed upon California. Men of all ages, of all classes, and of 
all nationalities started for the newly found gold-fields. "Settle- 
ments were completely deserted; homes, farms, and stores aban- 
doned. Ships deserted by their sailors crowded the bay at San 
Francisco [there were five hundred of them in July, 1850] ; soldiers 
deserted wholesale ; churches were emptied ; town councils ceased to 
sit; merchants, clerks, lawyers and judges and criminals every- 
where, flocked to the foot-hills. Soon from Hawaii, Oregon, the 
Eastern States, the South Sea, Australia, South America, and China 
came an extraordinary flow of the hopeful and adventurous. In 
the winter of '48 the rush began from the States to Panama, and 
in the spring across the plains. It is estimated that 80,000 men 
reached the coast in 1849, about half of them coming overland; 
three-fourths were Americans. From across the Atlantic there 
came Britons, Germans, Frenchmen, Italians, others speaking 
strange tongues, until the names of California were likened to so 
many towers of Babel, and pantomime often took the part of 
speech." 







I NEITHER BORROW NOR UNO. 

A CARTOON OF 1 849 



ALONG THE PACIFIC COAST 353 

Adventurers from the East could reach the gold-fields by water chap. 

or by an overland route. If they went by water, they could either 

sail around Cape Horn, a distance of seven thousand miles, or thev The 

Clayton- 
COUld cross the unhealthful Isthmus of Panama and reembark on Buiwer 

Treaty 

the Pacific side. The question of transportation across the Ameri- 
can Isthmus gave rise to diplomatic negotiations between England 
and the United States respecting the building of an Isthmian canal. 
The result of the negotiations was the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 
which was ratified in 1850. In this treaty the United States entered 
into an agreement with England not to build an Isthmian canal 
over which we should have exclusive control. If the United States 
should build such a canal it was to be neutral, the two powers 
agreeing to guarantee and protect its neutrality. This protection 
was also to be extended to any other practicable communication 
across the isthmus, whether by railroad or canal, the intention be- 
ing to establish a general principle as well as to settle one par- 
ticular question. 

The gold-seekers who went by the overland route made their The 

" Overland 

way to Independence, Missouri, near Kansas City. This frontier Routes to 

J . . . California 

town was the starting-point of a journey of more than two thousand 
miles across waterless plains and over steep and rocky mountains. 
From Independence emigrant trains could go by the Sante Fe 
Trail, or they could follow the Oregon Trail to the Humboldt 
River, where by turning to the southwest they could make their 
way to the western slope of the Sierras and move down into the 
Sacramento Valley, the Promised Land of gold. 

Whether he went by the Santa Fe Trail or by the Oregon Trail, 
the emigrant was almost sure to meet with great suffering and 
hardship. On the plains water was hard to get and many perished 
of thirst. When crossing streams, wagons were sometimes swal- 
lowed up by quicksand. On the rough paths in the mountains, 
vehicles were often overturned and their occupants injured or 
killed. Along the Oregon Trail the buffalo was extremely trouble- 
some. "One night," wrote one of the early emigrants to Cali- 
fornia, "when we were encamped on the South Fork of the Platte, 
the buffaloes came in such droves that we had to sit up and fire 
guns and make what fuss we could to keep them from running 
over us and trampling us into dust. ' ' 

In spite of dangers and hardships the "forty-niners" went out ™ e rtv 
in great throngs, their trains in the daytime filing along the roads niners" 



354 



THE ROARING FORTIES" 



CHAP. 
XVII 



California 
Leaps into 
Statehood 



for miles, and at night their camp-fires glittering at places blessed 
with grass and water. California at once became a populous 
region. San Francisco, a hamlet in 1847, grew in five years to be 
a city of nearly 35,000 inhabitants. A score of places rose as fast 
as carpentry could build them. Stockton, from a single ranch- 
house, expanded in a few months to the proportions of a good-sized 
town. Sacramento, which had no existence whatever in 1848, was 







The Santa Fe and Oregon trails to the Pacific Coast 

in 1849 a thriving place. So great was the influx of gold-seekers 
that the population of California increased tenfold in two years — 
from 10,000 in 1848 to nearly 100,000 in 1850. 

Here was a community ready for statehood within a few months 
after it came into our possession. Congress promptly took up the 
question of providing a government for California, but it was slow 
in reaching action. Yet prompt action was highly desirable, for 
the gold-seekers were mostly turbulent adventurers who sorely 
needed the restraining hand of authority. The old Mexican gov- 



NEW MEXICO; UTAH 



355 



ernment was impotent to cope with a situation in which law was 
wanting, justice being defeated, and villainy running rampant. 
Conditions approached a state of virtual anarchy, and the Cali- 
fornians were on the point of forming a government of their own, 
as American pioneers had done time and time again. But it turned 
out that drastic measures were not necessary ; for in June, 1849, 
General Riley, the military governor and the possessor of what- 
ever civil power there was, issued a proclamation recommending 
a general election of delegates to a convention which should have 
power to frame a constitution for California. Accordingly dele- 
gates were elected and a constitutional convention, meeting at 
Monterey in the autumn of 1849, drew up a constitution which was 
ratified by the people. In the constitution there was a clause pro- 
hibiting slavery. This feature of the proposed constitution gave 
rise in Congress to a long and stormy debate, an account of which 
will be given in another chapter. Sufficient it is at present to say 
that Congress accepted the antislavery provision and in 1850 con- 
sented to the admission of California. Thus it came into the Union 
without first passing through the territorial stage of government. 
Minerva was fittingly chosen as the emblem of the State which 
came into existence full-grown. 



CHAP. 
XVII 



New Mexico; Utah 



Turning from the fertile land of California, our story of the 
westward movement now takes us to the arid region of New Mexico 
and Utah, for it was in the forties that the foundations of these 
two States were laid. New Mexico at the time of its acquisition 
had a white population of about 60,000, with 30,000 Indians. The 
province was much more thickly populated than California. Santa 
Fe, the ancient capital of New Mexico and the center of the travel 
and trade that moved along the Santa Fe Trail, was a place of 
more than 5000 inhabitants. The value of the merchandise dis- 
tributed annually at this isolated mart was more than a half a mil- 
lion dollars. Albuquerque also was already a thriving town with 
a population almost as large as that of Santa Fe. New Mexico in 
fact at the time of the American occupation was a province of such 
importance that its people felt that it was entitled to statehood, 
and an attempt was made to bring it into the Union at once. But 
nothing came of the movement; many years were to pass before 



Mormons 



356 "THE ROARING FORTIES" 

New Mexico was to be received into the sisterhood of States. Yet 
the province could not be neglected. Polk in 1848, immediately 
upon its acquisition, urged upon Congress the necessity of promptly 
providing it with a Territorial government. Inasmuch as legisla- 
tion for the new Territory involved the question of slavery, the New 
Mexico Bill — of which more hereafter — met with many obstacles, 
and its passage was blocked until 1850, when the province was 
erected into a Territory. 
Mntmnr,, On the same day that New Mexico was provided with a Terri- 

torial government Utah was cut off from the original New Mexico 
and made a separate Territory. The settlement of Utah was one 
of the most interesting incidents in the whole history of the west- 
ward movement. The pioneers of this remote outpost were the 
Mormons, members of a religious society which was organized about 
1830 under the name of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter- 
day Saints. The spiritual founder of the society was Joseph 
Smith of Palmyra, New York. Smith was a believer in visions and 
dreams, and about 1823 he proclaimed that an angel of the Lord 
had led him to a spot where, concealed in a stone box buried in 
the earth, were a number of records written in a strange language 
upon golden plates. Having been endowed by this angel with 
knowledge for translating the records, Smith turned them into 
English and gave them to the world as the "Book of Mormon," 
the Bible of the Latter-day Saints. With the aid of a band of 
followers called elders, Smith began the work of proselyting, and 
a Mormon Church was organized. The first home of the Mormons 
was in western New York, but soon they moved to Kirkland in 
Ohio, where their membership numbered a thousand. After a 
temporary residence in Ohio Smith took his followers to Inde- 
pendence in Missouri and began the erection of a magnificent 
temple. But they became obnoxious to the people of the neigh- 
borhood and were driven out of the place by an armed mob. They 
next removed to Illinois and built a town which they called 
Nauvoo. Here again, having incurred the hostility of the in- 
habitants of the surrounding country — a hostility due chiefly to 
the fact that one of the tenets of the Mormon faith permitted the 
custom of polygamy, — they were attacked by an enraged populace, 
and their leader was thrown into jail where he was killed. After 
the death of Smith, a devoted follower, Brigham Young, was chosen 
as the president of the Saints. 



NEW MEXICO; UTAH 357 

Under the leadership of Young the Mormons in the spring of ^fj P - 

1847 left Illinois and set out for a new home in the Far West. 

After a long and toilsome journey across the plains they came to 
a valley in the Salt Lake basin. Here they found a permanent 
resting-place and freedom from persecution. Their settlement was 
made outside of the bounds of the United States on soil that be- 
longed to Mexico. But by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo they 
were speedily brought under the control of the nation from whose 
jurisdiction they thought they had escaped. 

After a reluctant submission to the rule of the United States Deseret 
the Mormons began at once to agitate for statehood. A conven- 
tion was held in 1849 at Salt Lake City and a constitution was 
adopted for a State to be called Deseret. A legislature for the 
proposed State was elected; Brigham Young was made the gov- 
ernor; and judges and other officials were chosen. A delegate was 
sent to Washington with a petition for the admission of Deseret 
into the Union. But the petition fell upon deaf ears ; Deseret failed 
to receive recognition. Congress, however, realizing that the Saints 
needed a government, gave them a Territorial organization, the 
name of the Territory being Utah. The existence of Deseret was 
therefore blotted out. 

Thus in the forties pioneers were as industrious in spreading 1Jt h ^ enefits 
American civilization as diplomats and soldiers were in extending t {^" isi " 
our boundaries. Between 1840 and 1850 the population of the 
Western country increased by more than two million, and eight 
Western communities emerged from the wilderness and were or- 
ganized either as States or Territories. The celerity of this 
development brought to the United States benefits of incalculable 
value. The prompt settlement of the Oregon country and of Cali- 
fornia shattered completely any hopes that any foreign nation 
may have had of securing possession of the Pacific coast. The 
vigorous operation of the gold-mines in California enabled the mints 
to supply the country with an additional volume of money which 
came just in the nick of time. Our commerce and industry were 
expanding with the expansion of the country, and the conditions 
of business were requiring greater and greater amounts of cur- 
rency. California could easily meet the demand, for between 1849 
and 1856 nearly $500,000,000 worth of gold were taken from her 
mines. But more important than the gold-mines of California 
were the harbors of the Pacific coast, and the opportunities which 



358 



THE ROARING FORTIES'' 



they offered of trading in new markets. ' ' From its position, ' ' said 
Polk, "California must command the rich commerce of China, of 
Asia, of the Islands of the Pacific, of western Mexico, of Central 
America, the South American States, and of the Russian posses- 
sions bordering on that ocean." Polk's forecast was accurate; 
with the acquisition of the Pacific coast we turned our face to the 
Orient. 

An Issue Avoided 

Polk could be pardoned for discoursing with pride on the bene- 
fits that would accrue from the territorial trophies of the Mexican 
War, for surely the new possessions were rich in promise. But 
connected with the acquisition there was a political problem full 
of high explosives. This was the slavery question, which was 
brought up in 1846 when a bill was on its passage through Congress 
giving money to Polk to aid him in his plans for acquiring New 
Mexico and California. It was proposed by David Wilmot of 
Pennsylvania to insert the following proviso in the bill: "Pro- 
vided, that as an express and fundamental condition to the acqui- 
sition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico by the Llnited 
States, in virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated between 
them, and the use by the Executive of the monies herein appro- 
priated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist 
in any part of said territory except for crime, whereof the party 
shall first be duly convicted." Here was the famous Wilmot Pro- 
viso which for years was to "flame in the skies like Constantine's 
Cross." The proviso sounded clear and strong the note of anti- 
slavery sentiment as existed at the time : no further extension of 
slavery. It thus brought up squarely before Congress a question 
which that body from the days of the Missouri Compromise had 
been avoiding, but which the abolitionists would allow it to avoid 
no longer. And the proviso brought the slavery question squarely 
before the people of the entire country. Should the area of slave 
territory be extended? Although many years passed before a de- 
cisive answer to this question was given, the proviso had the imme- 
diate effect of showing which way the wind of public opinion was 
blowing. In the South the sentiment was all against slavery 
restriction. In Virginia the legislature went so far as to affirm, in 
substance, that the adoption and enforcement of the proviso would 
lead to actual warfare. In the North public opinion was strongly 



AN ISSUE AVOIDED 



359 



for the proviso. In ten of the free States the legislatures passed xviV' 

resolutions in favor of the measure. Wilmot's amendment was 

passed by the House but was lost in the Senate. The proviso was 
brought up again in the next Congress. Abraham Lincoln, who 
was then serving his only term in the national legislature, says that 
he voted for the proviso under one form or another forty -two times ; 
but it always was defeated. 

It was of ominous significance that opinion in regard to the pro- l^on^f' 
viso, whether in Congress or outside, ran along sectional rather Grou P s 
than along party lines. Whigs in the South were as bitter in their 
condemnation of the proviso as were Democrats, while Northern 
Democrats supported the measure as heartily as it was supported 
by Northern Whigs. "An issue was thus made up," says G. P. 
Garrison, "which soon became the basis of a new political organ- 
ization; national party lines began to waver; diverse elements 
gradually coalesced and unified into two great sectional groups, 
standing apart and facing each other with resolute purpose, the 
one to prevent the National Government from promoting by any 
act, either of commission or of omission, the interests of slavery, 
and the other to guard these interests from national interference." 
But the proviso did more than to produce party dissension. It 
proved to be the thin edge of a wedge that was driven deeper and 
deeper until friendships, social ties, and business associations were 
sundered and great religious denominations were split in twain. 

The question raised by the proviso was uppermost in the public 
mind in 1848 when a Presidential election was at hand. But the 
politicians of the two great parties managed to conduct the cam- 
paign without bringing slavery to the front. Polk did not seek 
reelection, having declared before he was first elected his purpose 
not to be a candidate for a second term. The standard-bearer 
chosen by the Democrats in 1848 was Lewis Cass, a product of the 
Old Northwest 1 and an interesting specimen of the genuine Ameri- 
can type. In the convention which nominated Cass an effort was 
made to pass a resolution condemning the Wilmot Proviso, but 
the resolution was voted down by a heavy majority. The leading 
candidates before the Whig convention were General Zachary 
Taylor, Henry Clay, and General Winfield Scott. Clay was still 
the idol of the masses, but as he had been three times defeated the 
leaders were afraid to nominate him. On the first ballot Taylor 

1 See p. 302. 



The 

Nominees 
in 1848 



360 



THE ROARING FORTIES' 1 



showed greater strength than Clay and on the fourth he was nom- 
inated. The Whig candidate for Vice-President was Millard Fill- 
more of New York. The Whigs adopted no platform at all : they 
felt that Taylor would be elected by "spontaneous combustion." 
Resolutions supporting the Wilmot Proviso were offered in their 
convention but were voted down. Thus upon the only real issue 
before the country both Whigs and Democrats were as silent as 
the tomb. 

But at Buffalo in 1848 there was held a convention which met 
the slavery question fairly and without any mincing of words. 
This was the convention of the Free-soil party, an organization 
which had by this time absorbed the Liberty party. 1 The Free- 
soilers nominated ex-President Van Buren for the Presidency and 
came out against slavery in the strongest terms. They declared 
that Congress had no more power to make a slave than to make 
a king. They resolved : ' ' That we accept the issue which the slave 
power has forced upon us ; and to their demand for more slave 
States and more slave territory our calm but final answer is: No 
more slave States and no more slave territory. Let the soil of 
our extensive domain be kept free for the hardy pioneers of our 
land and the oppressed and banished of other lands." Here was 
a fairly accurate statement of the aims of the antislave party. 
Organized opposition to slavery at this time did not go so far as 
abolition ; it was against the spread of slavery that the antislavery 
people were directing their fight. 

The challenge of the Free-soilers was not accepted; men were 
not yet ready to take sides on the slavery question. Political in- 
ertia was greater than sectional interests or considerations of senti- 
ment. Van Buren failed to secure a single electoral vote. In his 
own State, however, he polled a larger number of votes than Cass, 
a result due to the fact that he was supported by the so-called 
"Barnburners," a radical faction of Democrats who refused to 
support the regular candidate. The defection of the Barnburners 
gave New York to Taylor. As in 1844, so in 1848, New York was 
a pivotal State ; its thirty-six electoral votes decided the election in 
favor of Taylor. But it was a contest without an issue. There was 
little interest in the election, and in many States no effort was 
made to poll a full vote. "Practically the only thing decided was 

1 See p. 320. 



CHRONOLOGY 361 

that a Whig general should be made a President because he had xvn P * 
done efficient work in carrying on a Democratic war." 

NOTES AND CHRONOLOGY 

[This matter is indexed. It does not include dates given or subjects treated 
in the main body of the text.] 

1825 English Parliament passes an act making concessions in respect to trade 
with her colonies, offering to foreign nations such commercial privi- 
leges as they themselves extend to Great Britain. (For a time the 
United States reaped no profit from the concession because of its 
high tariff policy. In 1830, however, negotiations resulted in an 
arrangement under which the trade between the United States and 
the British West Indies was opened.) 

1831 The "Kitchen Cabinet." (A name applied to a group of intimate politi- 
cal friends of Andrew Jackson who, it was charged, had more 
influence over his official actions than his constitutional advisers.) 

1833 Slavery abolished throughout the British Empire. 

1834 Indian Territory set apart for the Cherokees and other tribes. 

1835 Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" published. 

The Toledo War. (A bloodless dispute between Ohio and Michigan over 
the territory which contained the city of Toledo. Armed hostilities 
at one time were imminent, but the trouble was settled by giving 
Michigan the Upper Peninsula in exchange for the Toledo tract in 
dispute.) 

1836 Siege of the Alamo, a fort at San Antonio, where a band of about 140 

Texans resists a force of ten times their number. (All but six of 
the Texans perished rather than surrender. The six who surren- 
dered were murdered. Among the dead were David Crockett, a 
famous frontiersman, and James Bowie, the inventor of the deadly 
bowie-knife.) 

1837 Professor Morse receives a patent for his magnetic telegraph. 

The Aroostook War. (Between 1837 and 1839 trouble among the 
settlers along the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick 
came near to active hostilities on the Aroostook River. President 
Van Buren sent General Scott to the scene and a truce was 
arranged. The trouble was definitely settled by the Ashburton 
treaty. See p. 496.) 

Massachusetts creates a State board of education, of which Horace Mann 
is appointed secretary. 

Victoria becomes queen. 
1840 Uniform penny postage system established in Great Britain. 
1842 Ether first used as an anesthetic by Dr. Long of Georgia. 

The Dorr insurrection. (In Rhode Island there was a great deal of 
dissatisfaction because the constitution did not permit a man to 
vote unless he owned real estate worth at least $130 or paid a 
yearly rent of at least $7. Those who were in favor of changing 
the constitution elected as governor Thomas W. Dorr, who attempted 
to take possession of the State government by force. Before there 
was any bloodshed Dorr's followers deserted him. He was 



362 ''THE ROARING FORTIES" 

arrested and imprisoned but soon pardoned. In 1842 a State con- 
vention adopted a constitution which embodied nearly every pro- 
vision that had been advocated by Dorr.) 

1844 Anti-rent troubles. (In New York the tenants on the Van Rensselaer 

estates complained of the taxes and the rent which they were com- 
pelled to pay, and in the agitation for relief there were acts of 
lawlessness. The disturbances were suppressed, and in 1846 the 
grievances were redressed.) 

The Hunkers. (This was a name applied to a faction of the Demo- 
cratic party of New York opposed to the Barnburners.) 

Methodist Church divides on the subject of slavery. 

1845 Sir John Franklin sails in search of Northwest Passage. 

1848 Lowell's "Biglow Papers" appear. 

Woman's Rights convention held at Seneca Falls, New York. (It de- 
manded for women equal rights with men, basing the claim on the 
Declaration of Independence.) 

1849 Department of the Interior created by Congress and given jurisdiction 

over patents, Indian affairs, pensions and the census, and public 
lands. 

Suggested Readings 

The Pacific Northwest : Joseph Schafer. 

The West in the forties : McMaster, Vol. VII, pp. 190-227. 

Discovery of gold in California : McMaster, Vol. VII, pp. 584-597. 

Early Iowa : William Salter, "Iowa." 

Early Wisconsin : Thwaites, R. G., "Wisconsin." 

Ten-hour movement : Commons, Vol. I, pp. 536-546. 

Territorial and industrial expansion : Van Metre, pp. 323-356. 

The Irish and the Germans : Ross, pp. 24-65. 



XVIII 
ASPECTS OF SLAVERY 

ALTHOUGH the slavery question was dodged by the politicians 
in the campaign of 1848 it was plain to the whole country 
that the problem would soon have to be faced. The cleavage of 
sentiment on the subject of slavery extension was now a clearly 
marked line. The Wilmot Proviso brought out the fact that the 
North as a section was violently opposed to extension and that 
the South as a section would bitterly resent a policy of restric- 
tion. So threatening was the temper of the two sections and so 
sharp were their differences that slavery became the paramount 
issue of the day. Since this was so, we shall do well at this point 
to draw near and take a close view of slavery as it existed about 
1850. What was the true character of the social institution about 
which the North and South differed so widely? What were the 
conditions of slave life? What were the moral and economic as- 
pects of slavery ? 

The Slaveholders; the Poor Whites 

By 1850 the area of slave territory had reached its greatest ex- f^fJtics 
tent, for after the annexation of Texas no more slave States were 
admitted. The fifteen States in which slavery was now recognized 
by law were Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Ten- 
nessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas. Over against 
these were sixteen States (counting California) in which human 
bondage was unlawful. The population of the free States was 
about 14,000,000. The total population of the slave States was 
something less than 10,000,000, the whites numbering a little more 
than 6,000,000, the slaves a little more than 3,000,000, and the free 
negroes about 250,000. In the slave States about one white person 
in eighteen was the owner of one or more slaves, the total number 
of slaveholders being something less than 350,000. About 8000 
of the slaveholders owned more than fifty slaves each; a majority 

363 



364 



ASPECTS OF SLAVERY 



The Slave- 
holders 



of them owned less than five each ; while one fifth of them owned 
only one each. 

The slaveholders constituted the ruling class. They were dom- 
inated by an aristocracy, or rather oligarchy, composed of the 
masters of large plantations. "These rich planters," says Ostro- 
goski, "formed an elite which in more than one respect presented 
a striking resemblance to the old gentry of England and combined 
with the chivalrous qualities of a feudal race a fair intellectual cul- 
ture and a great breadth of mind, except in what concerned the 
institution of slavery. . . . Drawing into their orbit the less 
wealthy planters and the men of liberal professions in the cities, 
this elite wielded an even vaster and stronger social and political 
leadership than that which obtained in England in the old days." 
The ability of Southern leaders and their fitness for public busi- 
ness was unquestioned even at the North. "While the Northern 
people," said Horace Bushnell, a Northern man, "were generally 
delving in labor for many generations to create a condition of com- 
fort, slavery set the masters at once on a footing of ease, gave them 
leisure for elegant intercourse, for studies, seasoned their charac- 
ter with that kind of cultivation which distinguished men of so- 
ciety. A class of statesmen was thus raised up who were prepared 
to figure as leaders in scenes of public life where so much depends 
upon manners and social address." These masterful slaveholders 
held the South in the palm of their hand and, as these pages have 
already shown, they were the chief pilots of the nation as well. 
When we run over the names of those who directed affairs during 
the first three score years of our national existence we find South- 
ern personages in an overwhelming majority. Up to 1850 every 
President, except the two Adamses, Van Buren, and Harrison, be- 
longed to the slaveholding class. President Taylor had more than 
a thousand slaves on his plantation in Louisiana. 

Outside of the slaveholding circle there were in the South up- 
wards of four millions of whites. Many of these non-slaveholders 
were merchants, middlemen, mechanics, small farmers, lawyers, 
doctors, and the like, and were prosperous well-to-do citizens. But 
this class could not be very large in a region where towns and cities 
were so few in number and so small as they were in the South. 
A very large portion of the non-slaveholders consisted of an im- 
poverished class that eked out an existence on the fringe of civiliza- 
tion, forming a rather distinct stratum of society known as the 



FREE NEGROES 365 

"poor whites." These unfortunate people enjoyed the same politi- ^vm' 

cal privileges as the planters, but their condition in life was indeed 

pitiful. "Driven off the fertile lands," says J. F. Rhodes, "by the 
encroachments of the planter, or prevented from occupying the 
virgin soil by the outbidding of the wealthy, they farmed the worn- 
out lands and gained a miserable and precarious subsistence. As 
compared with laborers on the farms and in the workshops of the 
North, their physical situation was abject poverty, their intellec- 
tual state utter ignorance, and their moral condition grovelling 
baseness. ' ' The poor whites were almost exclusively shut out from 
the industrial world for the reason that the slave system required 
the presence of but few white laborers. "The theoretical perfec- 
tion of such a system," says G. M. Weston in his "Progress of 
Slavery," "requires that the proportion of whites should be no 
greater than is necessary for directing and coercing the blacks; 
and any excess of whites above that proportion is worse than 
superfluous, making a class of idlers, who in various ways, destroy 
or diminish the profits of the industry of others." Being an in- 
dustrial hanger-on, the poor white could not escape contempt and 
disdain. "Two hundred thousand men with pure white skins in 
South Carolina," said a senator from a free State, "are now de- 
graded and despised by thirty thousand aristocratic slaveholders." 
Industrially regarded, the poor white was a superfluity ; socially he 
was an outcast ; and politically he was a tool, for when election 
day came he generally yielded to the blandishments of the slave- 
holding politicians and voted the way he was told. 

Free Negroes 

The plight of the poor whites was sad enough, but sadder still 
was the plight of the free negroes, of whom there were in the United 
States in 1850 nearly half a million, almost equally divided be- 
tween the North and South. Although free blacks were found in 
every State, they were most numerous on the border-land of slavery 
and freedom. More than half of them resided in Delaware, Mary- 
land, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Of 
those in the North many had been born free or had been given their 
freedom by State law. Many others had migrated to the North 
after having been set free in the South. For throughout the whole 
period of slavery it was common for slaves to be released from 



366 



ASPECTS OF SLAVERY 



CHAP. 

XVIII 



The Status 
of the Free 
Negro 



The Free 
Ni'gro a 
Pariah 



bondage. Sometimes freedom was purchased by the slave himself, 
but must often it came through manumission by masters. In a few 
cases negroes were set free by the States in which they lived, as 
a reward for public service. 

To many a free negro it must have seemed that his freedom was 
a doubtful boon, for "not so wide was the gulf between Lazarus 
and Dives as that which yawned between the whites of every class 
and the negroes." If a man had a black skin he was put into a 
caste and branded as an inferior, whether he lived in the North 
or in the South, whether he was slave or free. In almost every 
Northern State the free negro was the victim of social discrimina- 
tion and unfriendly legislation. He was in most States deprived 
of the right of suffrage ; he was arrested and thrown into jail upon 
the slightest provocation ; he was liable to be kidnapped and car- 
ried away as a slave; his children were denied the privilege of 
attending school with white children ; he could not give testimony 
in cases in which a white man was a party. In all sections of the 
North the free negro was subjected to the humiliating persecutions 
of racial prejudice. "The prejudice of race," said Tocqueville, 
"appears to be stronger in the States which have abolished slavery 
than in those where it still exists; and nowhere is it so intolerant 
as in those States where servitude has never been known. ... In 
the theatres gold cannot procure a seat for the servile race be- 
side their former masters; in the hospitals they lie apart; and 
although they are allowed to invoke the same God as the whites, 
it must be at a different altar, and in their own churches, with 
their own clergy. The gates of Heaven are not closed against them ; 
but their inferiority is continued to the very confines of the other 
world. . . . Thus the prejudice which repels the negroes seems 
to increase in the proportion as they are emancipated, and in- 
equality is sanctioned by the manners whilst it is effaced from the 
laws of the country." 

In the South the inequality of the free negro was not "effaced 
from the laws." On the contrary the codes bristled with so many 
discriminations against free black men that they could hardly be 
called freemen at all. In no Southern State were they allowed to 
vote. ' ' They were forbidden in some places to sell drugs ; in others 
to sell wheat and tobacco; in several States from entering the 
commonwealth from elsewhere; in others a negro, if set free, must 
forthwith remove from the State." They could not hold public 



THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE SLAVE 367 

meetings or teach each other to read or write. They could, how- chap. 

ever, accumulate property and did accumulate a very considerable 

amount of worldly goods. The property of colored freemen often- 
times included slaves. In Charleston there was an instance of a 
free negro who was the owner of more than fifty members of his 
own race. Free blacks also could enter the trades and become 
carpenters, masons, tailors. Indeed it would seem that generally 
speaking the free negro was better off in the South than in the 
North. In the North, besides being debarred from every fellow- 
ship save his own despised race, he was ruthlessly excluded from 
the more profitable trades and occupations ; he was a pariah and 
nothing else. In the South, on the other hand, while the laws were 
more severe, he was the recipient of a more kindly treatment, and 
his negro nature was better understood. "Racial antipathy was 
there mitigated by the sympathetic tie of slavery which promoted 
an attitude of amiable patronage." Olmsted quotes a free colored 
Louisiana barber, who had lived in the North, as saying that he 
preferred to live in the South because colored people could associ- 
ate with the whites much more easily and comfortably than at the 
North, and because he was kept at a greater distance from white 
people and was insulted more on account of his color at the North 
than he was in Louisiana. 

The Legal Status of the Slave 
Unhappy and unfortunate as the free negro was in his legal The Traffic 

^ rj ° in Slaves 

status, he was nevertheless a king before the law when compared 
with the slave. In the eyes of the law the slave was a chattel. He 
could be sold, exchanged for other kinds of property, given away, 
or bequeathed. The fact that he could be sold was the most dis- 
tressing circumstance, perhaps, of his condition. Foreign trade 
in slaves was, as we have seen, prohibited early in the century ; x 
but the domestic traffic continued and was brisk as long as slavery 
existed. Between 1850 and 1860 the border States — Maryland, 
Virginia, and Kentucky — sold to the cotton States about 25,000 
slaves every year. There was a local or neighborhood traffic and 
a long-distance or interstate traffic. Sometimes when an owner 
wished to sell a slave locally he would cause the word to be passed 
around among the neighbors. In some instances the slave was 
'See p. 242. 



368 ASPECTS OF SLAVERY 

sent out to find a purchaser for himself. U. B. Phillips cites the 
case of a woman slave who was furnished with the following docu- 
ment : ' ' The bearer, Mary Jane, and her two daughters are for 
sale. They are sold for no earthly fault whatever. She is the 
most ladylike and trustworthy servant I ever knew. She can 
arrange and set out a dinner or party supper with as much taste 
as most of the white ladies. Her daughters' ages are eleven and 
thirteen years. They would not be sold to speculators or traders 
for any price whatever." 

The long-distance traffic was between the border States and the 
cotton kingdom. Slaves destined for the far-off plantations were 
transported overland in groups numbering sometimes two or three 
hundred. Often the poor creatures had been torn away from their 
friends and relatives, and often the journey was made in shackled 
limbs. The local traffic had its humane side, but the long-distance 
trade was replete with offenses against the principles of justice 
and humanity. One of its worst features was the separation of 
families — parent from child, brother from sister, husband from 
wife. The best sentiment of the South, however, was against the 
breaking up of families; if it was possible to hold the family to- 
gether it was done. The slave-trader's profits were large, but he 
paid dearly for his gains, for he everywhere lost the esteem of his 
fellow-men. "Preeminent in villainy," says D. R. Hundley, a 
Southern writer, "and a greedy lover of filthy lucre stands the 
hard-hearted negro trader. Some of them, we do not doubt, are 
conscientious men, but the number is few. Although honest and 
honorable when they first go into the business, the natural result 
of their calling seems to corrupt them." 

Being himself a mere chattel, the slave, of course, could have no 
valid property rights. Nevertheless he was customarily permitted 
to possess and use as his own a considerable amount of property, 
chiefly of the personal kind. But, while the slave was deprived of 
the rights of liberty and property, his life at least was in a meas- 
urable degree his own. In respect to murder the slave and the 
white man were theoretically on an equality, for in all the slave- 
holding States the wilful, malicious, and deliberate killing of a 
slave was made a capital crime. The constitution of Georgia had 
the following clause: "Any person who shall maliciously dis- 
member or deprive a slave of life, shall suffer such punishment 
as would be inflicted in case the like offense had been committed 



CONDITIONS OF SLAVE LIFE 369 

on a free white person, and on the like proof, except in a case of £yf„- 



insurrection of such slave, and unless such death should happen 
by accident in giving such slave moderate correction." A master, 
however, could always kill a slave in self-defense. He could inflict 
punishment upon his slave, and if the slave died as the result of 
the punishment the master was held guiltless if he could prove that 
the punishment was moderate. Although the letter of the law pro- 
tected the slave's life, it was extremely difficult to convict a white 
man, especially a master, of killing a slave ; for no slave was allowed 
to testify against a white man. As a matter of fact, the wanton 
murder of a slave by a master seldom occurred, and there were 
good reasons why such a crime should not often occur. First, 
there was the financial loss. In 1850 a good slave was worth from 
$1000 to $1500, and to kill one was to lose a considerable sum of 
money. Secondly, there was the lash of public opinion. Although 
a master who had killed a slave might escape the just penalty of 
the law there was in all the South no community in which he 
could escape the opprobrium and scorn of his neighbors. An in- 
stance is cited where a man was driven to insanity and suicide by 
the execration which was heaped upon him because he had whipped 
a slave to death. 

Conditions of Slave Life 
What were the ordinary conditions of slave life? What did it Household 

t • • • Slavery 

mean to be a slave? In towns and cities and in the non-cotton- 
producing districts where slavery was largely a household or 
family matter the institution was at its best. There is ample 
testimony to show that household slavery had many agreeable fea- 
tures. "The slaves in a family," said Henry Clay, "are treated 
with all the kindness that the children of the family receive." In 
his old age General Sherman had memories of family servants be- 
ing treated as well in the slave days as hired servants were in the 
eighties. Buckingham, an English traveler, thought "the condi- 
tion of the slaves of the household was quite as comfortable as 
that of servants in the middle ranks of life in England. They 
are generally well-fed, well-dressed, attentive, orderly, respectful, 
and easy to be governed, but more by kindness than severity." 
Glimpses of Southern society constantly show that the household 
slave was the object of the white man's concern and consideration. 



370 



ASPECTS OF SLAVERY 



CHAP. 
XVIII 



Plantation 
Slavery 



Flagella- 
tion 



Not so bright was the picture of conditions on the plantations 
in the cotton kingdom. Here slavery was at its worst. In the 
cotton, sugar, and rice States the industrial system required a great 
number of large plantations which in many cases could not be 
managed directly by their owners. In the absence of the owner 
the slaves were placed under the supervision of an overseer. This 
functionary generally sought to manage the plantation in a manner 
that would give the proprietor the largest profits ; and in his desire 
to make a good record he sometimes subjected the slaves to in- 
human treatment, working them beyond their strength and failing 
to give them the necessary food and care. But the overseer was 
not always a brutal fellow, and it was not the general policy of 
planters to work the slaves without regard to mercy and beyond 
the limits of endurance. "The proprietor wishes the overseer most 
distinctly to understand," said C. P. Weston, "that his first object 
is to be, under all circumstances, the care and well-being of the 
negroes. The proprietor is always ready to excuse such errors as 
may proceed from want of judgment ; but he never can or will 
excuse any cruelty, severity, or want of care toward the negroes." 

In order to secure obedience and discipline, and to see that 
tasks were punctually and carefully performed, it was necessary 
at times for masters to bring physical force into use. Under the 
laws they could either imprison a refractory slave or flog him. Im- 
prisonment was seldom practicable, for in prison the culprit could 
do no work although he must be fed. The usual form of punish- 
ment, therefore, was flagellation. There was plenty of whipping 
four score years ago, it ought to be remembered, not only in slave- 
dom but in places where all men were free. The lash was still 
regularly used in the navy and to some extent in the army. In 
some places husbands could still lawfully whip their wives, while 
in a number of States the less serious crimes of white men were 
atoned for at the whipping-post. But the slave was flogged not 
only for crimes, but for the ordinary misconduct of daily life; for 
carelessness, for disobedience, for insolence. J. H. Hammond, one 
of the governors of South Carolina and a planter, prepared a 
schedule of offenses for the guidance of his overseers. "The fol- 
lowing," he said, "is the order in which offenses must be esti- 
mated: 1st, running away; 2d, getting drunk or having spirits; 3d, 
stealing; 4th, leaving plantation without permission; 5th, absence 



Conditions 
of Slave 



CONDITIONS OF SLAVE LIFE 371 

from house after horn blow at night ; 6th, unclean house or person ; £ vfn' 
7th, neglect of tools; 9th, neglect of work." 

Most of the flogging was for idleness or for failure to do the 
work assigned. When a task was set it had to be completed or a 
flogging would follow. In the large plantations the punishment 
was often administered by a negro foreman known as the "driver." 
This important personage followed his fellow-slaves in the fields 
and urged laggards to greater exertion by laying on the whip. 
The flogging of slaves was everywhere accepted as a matter of 
necessity. The masters saw no harm in it whatever. It was their 
theory that the negroes were but children and that if the rod should 
be spared the slave would be spoiled. But it must not be thought 
that in the flogging of slaves cruelty was the rule, for it was not. 
At times, it is true, a master in a fit of temper or in a state of 
intoxication would use his power in an inhuman manner, but as 
a rule he was merciful. Indeed, everywhere in the South the brutal 
master found himself an unpopular member of his community. 

The material conditions of slave life varied of course with the * 
good-will and humanity of masters. Generally speaking, household Life 
slaves were well fed, well clad, and comfortably sheltered. On 
plantations, however, the material welfare of the slave was often 
neglected in order that profits might accrue. The clothing of the 
plantation negroes was coarse and as scanty as was consistent with 
decency and comfort. Their diet was extremely simple, consist- 
ing chiefly of corn-bread, hominy, and bacon. There was a brief 
period, however, when the slave lived high. This was when the 
frost of winter brought the festival of hog-killing time. "While 
the shoulders, sides, hams, and lard were saved," says U. B. 
Phillips, "all other parts of the porkers were distributed for prompt 
consumption. Spareribs and backbone, jowl and feet, souse and 
sausage, liver and chitterlings greased every mouth on the plan- 
tation ; and the crackling-bread carried fulness to repletion. Christ- 
mas and the summer largely brought recreation, but the hog- 
killing brought fat satisfaction. ' ' In some of the States the matter 
of a slave's food was made a matter of legislation, and it was 
enacted that the quantity of food supplied to slaves should be 
sufficient to keep them in a healthful condition. A slave, there- 
fore, could be said to have one right which a freeman did not enjoy ; 
namely, immunity from starvation. 



372 



ASPECTS OF SLAVERY 



The living quarters of the slaves were humble cabins located 
near the master's house and built in a row that formed a kind of 
street. A cabin usually had two or three rooms and a loft and 
was whitewashed outside, while the interior was lathed and plas- 
tered. Adjoining the cabin was a garden and near-by a pig-pen 
in which there were two or three pigs. On all well-managed plan- 
tations the sanitation of the negro quarters received careful at- 
tention. The health of the occupants was also a matter of the 
proprietor's concern. "The point on which I feel the most solici- 
tude," wrote Governor Hammond to one of his overseers, "that is 
the sick. It is murder to neglect a sick negro. I would neglect 
anything else to attend the sick. . . . Nurse well and physic little. 
Never give horse doses. Never give calomel if you can help it. 
Never drench a negro who you think is pretending; rather give 
him a dose of cold water and let him rest a day which will often 
save many days of real sickness to some poor tired fellow who is 
worn out. When you want a doctor send for Galphin, but re- 
member he charges $8.00 a visit." 

The slave was permitted to enjoy the consolation of religion. In 
some of the States the law provided that slaves should not be 
required to work on Sunday, unless their labor was an absolute 
necessity. They could be instructed orally in the Bible, but they 
must not be taught to read the sacred book. Sometimes they had 
their own negro preachers, and on the larger plantations their own 
little church. More often they attended the white man's church, 
occupying separate places in the gallery. Although their religious 
privileges were at the discretion of their master, they were gen- 
erally allowed to attend church and worship in a manner suitable 
to their simple natures. "That in many or most of the States," 
says Albert Barnes, an antislavery writer, "the slaves are per- 
mitted to attend public worship, occasionally, at least, there can 
be no doubt; and that not a few of them become Christians, it 
would be as improper to doubt. Nor can it be denied that there 
are not a few kind and pious masters who sincerely desire the 
salvation of their slaves, and who are willing to grant to them all 
the facilities which the circumstances of the case may permit, to 
secure their salvation." 

In the matter of education slavery wore one of its darkest aspects. 
It was the avowed policy of most masters to keep their negroes in 
ignorance. As a rule it was unlawful to teach a negro to read or 



CONDITIONS OF SLAVE LIFE 373 

write. It was feared that education might lead to plots and in- chap. 

surrections. Moreover, it was a theory quite generally held that 

to educate the slaves would do them more harm than good. Said 
a Georgian planter: "The very slightest amount of education, 
merely teaching them to read, impairs their value as slaves, for it 
immediately destroys their contentedness ; and since you do not 
contemplate changing their condition it is surely doing them an 
ill service to destroy their acquiescence in it." Furthermore, it 
was thought that education would subtract from the efficiency of 
the slave. ' ' Educate a negro and you spoil a good field hand, ' ' was 
a maxim quite generally accepted as being sound. Not all masters, 
however, were afraid of education. Household slaves were fre- 
quently taught to read, and the instruction was often given by the 
masters themselves — the law to the contrary notwithstanding. 

The condition of the slave was hard, but it was not all stripes j°y| nd 
and toil and privation. In his life there was some joy and sun- Sunshine 
shine. Besides his Sundays he had Christmas week and Easter 
Monday and several days in summer for leisure and for lightness 
of heart. And he did not fail to make good use of his holidays. 
"All darkydom, " wrote a Richmond editor, "must have holiday 
this week, and while their masters and mistresses are making fires 
and cooking victuals or attending to other menial duties the negroes 
are promenading the streets decked in their finest clothes." The 
masters encouraged the slaves in their dances and festivities and 
at times even permitted them to share in the white man's enter- 
tainments. An advertisement in "The Charleston Mercury" on 
April 21, 1843, read as follows: "Last days but one of General 
Tom Thumb. This distinguished dwarf can be seen here only to- 
day and to-morrow. In accordance with the wishes of many of our 
citizens and by permission of the Mayor, the colored people will 
be admitted this evening and to-morrow morning, from 7 till 9 
o'clock. They must all come with a written permit from their 
masters or owners. Price of admission for colored people 12^ 
cents, which is half price." 

Such in general was slavery in its every-day aspects. These 
aspects were forbidding enough, but it would be easy to condemn 
the institution on its social side with too great severity. ' ' The gov- 
ernment of slaves," says U. B. Phillips, a recent and a very 
judicious writer upon slavery, "was for the ninety and nine by 
men, and only for the hundredth by laws. There were injustice, 



374 



ASPECTS OF SLAVERY 



oppression, brutality and heartburning in the regime — but where 
in the struggling world are these absent? There were also gentle- 
ness, kind-hearted friendship and mutual loyalty to a degree hard 
for him to believe who regards the system with a theorist 's eye and 
a partisan squint." 

The Morals of Slavery 



What can be said of the ethics of slavery? What standing did 
the institution have at the forum of the human conscience? For 
centuries slaveholders seemed not to be disturbed by conscientious 
qualms; to hold negroes in bondage seemed to be entirely con- 
sistent with sentiments of the highest morality and the deepest 
piety. Even the slave-traders in the early days felt that Provi- 
dence smiled upon their business. Once John Hawkins was at- 
tacked by some African negroes whom he was attempting to enslave 
and he barely escaped with his life. When writing of the incident 
he piously reflected "that God worketh all things for the best and 
by Him we escaped without danger." During the colonial period 
almost the only opposition to slavery en moral grounds was voiced 
by the Quakers. At the end of the eighteenth century, however, 
when emancipation was so fashionable, slavery often received the 
condemnation of the moralist. "At the time the Constitution was 
adopted," said Webster, "there was no division of opinion be- 
tween the North and the South upon the subject of slavery. It 
will be found that both parts of the country held it equally an 
evil, a moral and political evil. The eminent men, the most emi- 
nent men, and nearly all the conspicuous politicians of the South 
held the same sentiments — that slavery was an evil, a blight, a 
scourge, and a curse." Said Jefferson in 1783 : "The whole com- 
merce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most 
boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one 
part and degrading submission on the other. Our children see this 
and have to imitate it. The parent storms, the child looks on, 
catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle 
of smaller slaves, gives a loose rein to the worst of passions, and 
thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but 
be stamped by it with odious peculiarities. ' ' 

But soon the voice of conscience was drowned by the noise of 
the cotton-gin, and for many years the morality of slavery was 
a subject avoided alike in the pulpit and on the platform. With 



THE MORALS OF SLAVERY 375 

the rise of the abolitionists, however, slavery began again to be ^f^- 

attacked on its moral and religious side. "We assert," wrote the 

Rev. George Bourne in "The Liberator" in 1831, "that no slave- 
holder is innocent; that he is an unjust, cruel, criminal kidnapper, 
who is guilty of the most atrocious transgression against God and 
man; that it is the most infatuated delusion for such men to be- 
lieve, or the most impudent hypocrisy in them to profess, them- 
selves innocent ; that the general management of the slave is a 
complication of indescribable barbarity." And soon moral con- 
siderations were urged against slavery by political crusaders. "We 
believe slave-holding to be an unsurpassed crime," declared a con- 
vention of political abolitionists in 1855, "and we hold it the 
sacred duty of civil government to suppress crime. . . . The 
ground which we occupy is holy ground; the ground of the true 
and of the right marked out by the divine law of loving our neigh- 
bors as ourselves. We call on all the friends of pure religion and 
of our common country to come to the rescue and cast in their lot 
with us in this great struggle." 1 

These denunciations of slavery as unholy found a lodgment in ™fy° e u ^ h ' 
Northern minds but they went wide of the mark in the South. 
By 1850 the consciences of slaveholders were rarely disturbed by 
any doubts as to the rightfulness of slavery. "But let me not," 
said Calhoun, "be understood as admitting even by implication 
that the existing relation between the two races in the slavehold- 
ing States is an evil ; far otherwise. I hold it to be a good, as it 
has thus far proved to be to both." "Few persons in the South," 
said W. Gilmore Simms in 1852, "question their perfect right to 
the labor of their slaves; and more, their moral obligation to keep 
them still subject as slaves and to compel their labor as long as 
they remain the inferior beings which we find them now, and which 
they seem to have been from the beginning. ' ' 

Thus Southerners had come to believe that slavery had a moral 
justification and that its maintenance was not only a right but a 
duty as well. Furthermore, the slaveholders extracted a justifica- 
tion for slavery from the words of Holy Writ. In both the Old 
and New Testaments human bondage was fully recognized and was 
nowhere condemned. Here was a powerful and effective argument, . 
for the Southern people have always been a deeply religious folk, 
and the slaveholders in their reverence for the authority of the 

lr The italics are those of the original declaration. 



376 



ASPECTS OF SLAVERY 



Bible were as unreserved as the Puritans of early Massachusetts. 
Another argument of the master was that slavery had lifted the 
negro from the savage condition of the African jungle and placed 
him under the influences of a Christian civilization where his 
material wants were supplied. The free man suffered from the 
lack of employment, from the smallness of his wage, from the 
disabilities of sickness and old age, but the bondman was relieved 
of all anxiety as to material things whether of the present or the 
future. 

The Economics of Slavery 



But after all the question which the slaveholder asked was not 
whether slavery was good for the negro but whether it was good 
for the white man. Was slavery an economic blessing? Many 
economists contended that it was not. J. E. Cairnes, a leading 
authority in his day, summed up the economic defects of slave 
labor under three heads: (1) it was given reluctantly, the slave's 
efforts relaxing the moment his master's eye was withdrawn; (2) 
it was unskilful, because the slave, receiving no benefits from his 
work, had no inducement to exert his higher faculties; (3) it lacked 
versatility, because the ignorance of the slave prevented him from 
learning new branches of industry. But this kind of reasoning 
did not appeal to the slaveholders : they were not concerned in 
the theoretical aspects of slavery. The South believed that its 
prosperity depended upon slave labor, and that was enough. Not 
that it was cheap labor, for it was not. If the slaves were bought, 
there was required an outlay of capital that was unnecessary under 
a system of free labor. If they were born and reared on the plan- 
tation, their nurture from infancy to adolescence was a costly 
affair. In any case the slave had to be housed, fed, clothed, nursed, 
and cared for in sickness, and supported in his old age. If a 
slave died before his time a heavy loss was incurred. At every 
step, therefore, the slave proprietor was confronted with a class 
of expenses and losses which the employer of free labor escaped 
entirely. 

Planters recognized that slave labor was expensive, and they 
often said that if they could see their way to employ free laborers 
for their cotton and rice fields they would do so. But many things 
stood in the way of employing free labor in the South. Freemen 



THE ECONOMICS OF SLAVERY 



377 



were hard to get, for they did not care to work with slaves. The xvm" 

"poor whites" of the South would not work side by side with the 

blacks ; much less would sturdy workmen come down from the North 
and do so. If free labor was to be employed at all it would have 
to supplant slave labor entirely. Such a substitution would mean 
that all the slaves would have to be freed, and in universal eman- 
cipation the planters saw great danger. They felt that to let loose 
three millions of free negroes in the South would result in chaos. 
In whatever way, therefore, the planter looked at the matter he was 
constrained to believe that it was best for him to hold on to his 
slaves and that slavery was an institution which was absolutely 
necessary for the industrial prosperity of the South. 

The planter saw nothing selfish or sectional in this attachment National 

Prosperity 

to slavery, for he contended that the whole country shared in the and slavery 
benefits which flowed from the labor of the slaves. "Upon the 
South, as upon the strong arm of a brother," said B. F. String- 
fellow, "so long as negro slavery exists, the North can rely; it 
will furnish materials for its workshops, a market for its manu- 
factures; wealth to its capitalists, wages to the laborers." "To 
the institution of domestic slavery," said Governor Quitman of 
Mississippi, "is attributed as much as to any other single cause 
the rapid advance of our country in its career of prosperity, great- 
ness and wealth." In this contention the South was right; every 
part of the Union in 1850 was sharing in the prosperity that flowed 
from the labor of slaves. Slaves were raising the cotton that was 
used in Northern mills by manufacturers who were growing rich. 
Slave labor was the chief support of the foreign and the coasting 
trade that was making flourishing cities of Boston, New York, and 
Philadelphia. It was the labor of slaves that provided a market 
for the surplus produce of the West. 1 Thus when viewed broadly 
in its economic bearings it would seem that the nation taken as a 
whole could have no quarrel with slavery. 

Suggested Readings 

Cotton and slavery : Bogart, pp. 133-140. 

The "underground railroad" : Rhodes, Vol. II, pp. 74-77, 361-362. 

The slave-trade : Rhodes, Vol. II, pp. 367-372. 

The plantation system : Bogart, pp. 296-300. 

Phillips, U. B., "American Negro Slavery." 

1 See p. 302. 



w 



XIX 

SLAVERY AN OVERSHADOWING ISSUE 

"Five Bleeding Wounds" 

'HEN President Taylor entered upon his duties in March, 
1849, a national crisis was impending. Thanks to the 
Wilmot Proviso and to the discussions revolving around it, the 
slavery question had been brought to the forefront of politics and 
was demanding a solution with an insistence that augured ill for 
the Union. "At this moment," said Clay, describing the excite- 
ment over slavery extension, "we have in the legislative bodies of 
this capitol and in the States twenty odd furnaces in full blast, 
emitting heat and passion and intemperance, and diffusing them 
throughout the whole extent of this broad land." Webster, too, 
felt that the situation was full of danger. "The imprisoned 
winds," he exclaimed, "are let loose. The East, the North, and 
the stormy South combine to throw the whole sea into commotion, 
to toss its billows to the skies and disclose its profoundest depths." 
California The questions demanding settlement were five in number — "five 
bleeding wounds," Clay called them. First there was California. 
Should it come in as a free State or as a slave State? Secondly, 
there were the Territories, New Mexico and Utah. In providing 
governments for these should the principle of the Wilmot Proviso 
be applied and slavery be excluded, or should slavery be allowed? 
Thirdly, there was the question of the boundary of Texas. That 
State was claiming a substantial portion of New Mexico and threat- 
ening trouble if her claims should be denied. Should these claims 
be recognized or would the Texans have to be content with the 
territory they actually held? Fourthly, there was the question 
of slavery in the District of Columbia. Washington had become 
the center of a flourishing traffic in slaves. Dealers led their 
slaves through the streets of the city in gangs. Slave-shambles 
and auction-blocks were visible from the dome of the Capitol. 
There was a demand that slavery in the district be abolished. Here 
the power of Congress was full and absolute. How would it use 

378 



New Mexico 



FIVE BLEEDING WOUNDS" 



379 



that power? Would it suppress slavery in the district, or would chap. 

it leave it undisturbed? 

The fifth "bleeding wound" was the inefficiency of the existing 
Fugitive-slave Law. This law, enacted in 1793, x was losing its 
effectiveness, because the abolitionists were assisting in the escape 
of runaway slaves. If the runaway could reach Pennsylvania or 
Ohio he had a good chance of meeting some officer of the so- 
called "underground railroad," a secret organization composed 
mainly of abolitionists whose purpose was to prevent fugitive slaves 
from falling into the clutches of their masters. The railroad nearly 
always led to Canada where slavery was illegal. If a master could 
overtake a runaway anywhere in the United States he could seize 
the fugitive and take him back home, but if the runaway could 
once get his foot on Canadian soil he was safe. When taken in 
charge by the underground railroad the fugitives were passed along 
from place to place in secret ways and by devious courses. "Forty- 
seven slaves," said one of the conductors of the underground rail- £ h * 

D Under- 

road, "I guided toward the north star. I piloted them through the | r °^" d ad 
frosty north mostly by night: men dressed in women's clothes, and 
women dressed in men's clothes; on foot and on horseback, in car- 
riages, under loads of hay." In one instance the runaway was 
nailed up in a box and shipped as freight. Men of reputation en- 
gaged in this work. Theodore Parker and Thurlow Weed were 
among the conductors of the underground railroad. The result 
of their subterranean activities was to irritate the South and to 
cause masters to lose many valuable slaves. It has been estimated 
that between 1830 and 1850 as many as 50,000 slaves were spirited 
away beyond danger of recapture by the services of the under- 
ground railroad. The South, therefore, demanded a new Fugitive- 
slave Law, one that would enable the master to retake his runaway 
slave in spite of the abolitionists and the underground railroad. 
Would Congress pass such a law or would the masters have to be 
content with the existing statute? 

On every one of these questions the division of opinion ran along y^^Ls 
sectional rather than partv lines. It was not AVhig against Demo- f£ a £ nBt « 
crat, but free States against slave States, the North against the 
South. The North desired the admission of California, for she 
was sure to come in as a free State. 2 Just because she would come 

*See p. 241. 
'See p. 355. 



380 



SLAVERY AN OVERSHADOWING ISSUE 



CHAP. 
XIX 



Hemming 
in Slavery 



A National 
Scandal 



in free the South opposed her admission. With California in the 
Union there would be sixteen free States and fifteen slave States, 
and the balance of power between the two sections would be dis- 
turbed; the scales would tip against the South. ''The admission 
of California," said Calhoun, "will be the test question. If you 
admit her, it will be notice to us that you propose to use your 
present strength and to add to it with the intention of destroying 
irretrievably the equilibrium between the two sections." 

But sharper than the differences of opinion about California 
were those about New Mexico and Utah. Slavery in those Terri- 
tories was already prohibited at the time of their acquisition, 
and the North demanded that the prohibition be made permanent. 
This was like slapping the South in the face, for it was like say- 
ing to her that not a single slave State should be carved out of 
the vast territory acquired from Mexico. It was like saying to 
slaveholders that slavery henceforth must forever be hemmed with- 
in its present boundaries. If they were shut out of California and 
New Mexico and Utah, into what new land would it ever be pos- 
sible for them to go with their slaves? 

The Texas boundary question raised the same issue of slavery 
extension. If the land claimed by Texas should be adjudged as 
belonging to her it would at once become slave territory ; if it were 
left a part of New Mexico, its status could still be determined by 
Congress. The South accordingly was on the side of Texas, while 
the North opposed her claims. 

The question of slavery in the District of Columbia was one that 
came close to the very doors of Congress, and was one that in the 
opinion of many members imperatively demanded settlement. 
Northern members would abolish slavery in the district, because 
they regarded its existence there as a national scandal. Southern 
members did not wish it disturbed, for they felt that to abolish 
slavery in the district would be to make an unnecessary attack upon 
this institution and to offer a direct insult to the South. 

And so it was in respect to a new fugitive-slave law : the North 
was on one side of the question, the South on the other. The ex- 
isting law, said the North, was adequate and should remain un- 
changed. The South demanded a new and more stringent statute 
and threats were made that if the North did not deliver up fugitive 
slaves the Southern States would by way of retaliation pass laws 
to prevent the sale of Northern products in Southern States. 



THE COMPROMISE OF 1850 



381 



Such were the issues which confronted Congress in December, 2^ p - 

1849. As it happened, this Thirty-first Congress was composed of 

a greater number of able and brilliant lawmakers than have assem- a Brilliant 

. . . Body of 

bled in Washington in any other Congress before or since that Lawmakers 
time. Clay and Webster and Calhoun were there with all their 
prestige and power. For thirty years and more these three men 
had stood at the helm, and now at the most critical juncture of 
their public career they appeared together for the last time. 
Among other statesmen of the older generation were Benton and 
Cass, leaders whose services had been hardly less distinguished 
than those rendered by the great triumvirate. In this Congress 
also were many of the younger men who were presently to step 
forward as the leaders of the coming time. Foremost among these 
were William H. Seward, Stephen A. Douglas, Salmon P. Chase, 
and Jefferson Davis. 

To this Congress of giants President Taylor submitted a plan p^ n or ' s 
for dealing with the difficult and delicate questions that were to 
be taken up. Wishing to go slowly and not press all the issues 
at once, he advised Congress to admit California and suspend 
action in respect to New Mexico and Utah until such time as the 
people of those Territories should frame their constitutions. But 
the Southern leaders would have nothing to do with this plan, for 
they saw in it the probable grafting of the Wilmot Proviso into 
the forthcoming State constitutions by the will of the settlers. 
Clay opposed the President's policy because he believed it fell 
short of the requirements of the situation. "What is the plan of 
the President?" he asked. "Is it to heal all these wounds? No 
such thing. It is to heal only one of the five and to leave the other 
four to bleed more profusely than ever by the sole admission of 
California, even if it should produce death itself." Taylor urged 
his policy with all his might, but the might of the executive at this 
period was not what it was to become in later days. The Presi- 
dential scheme made but little headway. Congress was in a mood 
to assume full responsibility and meet the crisis in its own way. 

The Compromise of 1850 



Upon the questions at issue the two branches of Congress were compro 
divided. The majority in the House was against slavery extension, Ne^ssary 
while in the Senate a majority could be mustered in favor of ex- 



382 SLAVERY AN OVERSHADOWING ISSUE 

chap. tension. If, therefore, there was to be action at all there must be 

a compromise. As was to be expected the man who undertook to 

effect a compromise was Clay, then a member of the Senate. The 
task was congenial to the great Kentuckian. To his mind com- 
promise was one of the "white virtues." "I go," he said, "for 
honorable compromise whenever it can be made. All legislation, 
all government, all society, is formed on the principle of mutual 
concession, politeness, comity, courtesy; upon these everything is 
based. I bow to you to-clay because you bow to me. You are re- 
spectful to me because I am respectful to you. Compromises have 
this recommendation, that if you concede anything, you have some- 
thing conceded to you in return. Let him who elevates himself 
above humanity, above its weaknesses, its infirmities, its wants, its 
necessities, say, if he pleases, I will never compromise, but let no 
one who is not above the frailties of our common nature disdain 
compromise. ' ' 
clay's Plan j n ^ s spirit of give and take Clay came forward in January, 
1850, with a set of resolutions, the declared purpose of which was 
"to settle and adopt amicably all existing questions of controversy 
arising out of the institution of slavery, upon a fair, equitable, 
and just basis." The main features of Clay's plan were: 

First, to admit California with her constitution forbidding 
slavery — a concession to the North. 

Secondly, to give New Mexico and Utah Territorial governments 
providing that when ready for statehood the Territories should be 
admitted into the Union with or without slavery as their constitu- 
tions might prescribe at the time of their admission — a sacrifice of 
the Wilmot Proviso and therefore a concession to the South. 

Thirdly, to establish a boundary line between Texas and New 
Mexico which should yield slightly to the demands of the former, at 
the same time paying her a money indemnity for the extinction of 
her claims to the rest of the territory — a concession to the South. 

Fourthly, to prohibit the slave-trade in the District of Columbia 
— a concession to the North. 

Fifthly, to declare that it was inexpedient to abolish slavery in 
the district without the consent of Maryland — a concession to the 
South. 

Sixthly, to enact a more stringent and effectual fugitive-slave 
law — a concession to the South. 



THE COMPROMISE OF 1850 383 

Such was Clay's plan of compromise. The debate which followed £^ P ' 

lasted from January to October. Clay, now in his seventy-fourth ■ 

year and sometimes so ill that he could hardly drag his tottering Calhoun 
frame to the Senate-chamber, made speech after speech in defense 
of his scheme. Calhoun, also greatly enfeebled in body, was too ill 
to speak. He appeared in the Senate, however, and had his speech 
read for him by Senator Mason of Virginia. As the reading pro- 
ceeded the gaunt and haggard old man anxiously watched the effect 
of his words upon the faces of those around him. ' ' There he sat, ' ' 
says Schurz, "the old champion of slavery, himself the picture of 
his doomed cause — a cause at war with the civilization of the age — 
vainly struggling against destiny — a cause which neither union nor 
disunion, neither eloquence in council, nor skill in diplomacy, nor 
bravery in battle could save." 

Calhoun opposed Clay's plan. He believed it to be wholly un- 
constitutional. Congress, he contended, had no right under the 
Constitution to keep slavery out of California or any other Terri- 
tory ; slavery being a domestic institution with which the Federal 
Government had nothing whatever to do except to make regulations 
regarding fugitive slaves. He opposed the plan also because he 
believed it would be ineffectual. The South, he said, would be so 
highly displeased with the compromise measures that she would 
withdraw from the Union. He did not want secession, but he feared 
it. His remedy for disunion was for the North to give the South 
an equal right in newly-acquired territory, give it an effectual 
fugitive-slave law, cease agitating the slavery question, and restore 
the balance of power between the North and the South by amending 
the Constitution so as to provide for two Presidents, one for each 
section, and each having a veto. "If you of the North will not do 
this," he said, "then'let our Southern States separate and depart in 
peace. ' ' 

The third member of the great triumvirate spoke on March 7, Webster's 

D x ' Seventh of 

delivering a speech that made the day famous. Webster declared March 

° r t . * Speech 

in favor of Clay's plan. He believed the Union was in danger and 
that it could be saved only by compromise. "I wish to speak," he 
said, "not as a Massachusetts man, not as a Northern man, but as 
an American. I speak to-day for the preservation of the Union." 
Never was a speech more severely condemned than this Seventh of 
March Speech of Webster's. The antislavery people felt that they 



384 



SLAVERY AN OVERSHADOWING ISSUE 



CHAP. 
XIX 



had been betrayed; that their great leader had deserted them in 
order to curry favor with the South. They could be pardoned for 
their resentment, for the tone and bias and coloring of the speech 
were deeply exasperating to all Northern people who cherished 
antislavery sentiments. Theodore Parker said : "I know no deed 
in American history done by a son of New England to which I can 
compare this but the act of Benedict Arnold. The only reasonable 
way in which we can estimate this speech is as a bid for the Presi- 
dency. " " Webster, ' ' said Horace Mann, ' ' is a fallen star ! Lucifer 
descending from heaven!" But no other speech, perhaps, had 




Results upon slavery of the Compromise of 1850 



The 

Omnibus 

Bill 



greater or more direct results, for it was Webster's support that 
brought success to Clay's plan. "Webster's influence," says 
Rhodes, "was of the greatest weight in the passage of the com- 
promise measures, and he is as closely associated with them as is 
their author. Clay's adroit parliamentary management was neces- 
sary to carry them through the various and tedious steps of legisla- 
tion. But it was Webster who raised up for them a powerful and 
much needed support from Northern public sentiment." 

As the compromise threaded its way through the mazes of legis- 
lative procedure it was resisted at every step by the President. But 
in midsummer General Taylor died. On the fourth of July he 
imprudently exposed himself to the sun. A fever ensued and on 



RESISTANCE AND ACQUIESCENCE 385 

July 9 he passed away — "the type of a brave officer whose work ^£ p ' 

was unfinished." Vice-President Fillmore now became President. 

The new President was a close friend of Clay and was docile in the 
hands of party leaders. He made Webster his secretary of state 
and threw the influence of his administration on the side of the 
compromise. Clay now had smooth sailing. One by one the several 
parts of his plan became law ; each part being enacted separately ; 
and by the end of September, 1850, all his compromise measures — 
collectively known as the Omnibus Bill — had been passed and 
signed by President Fillmore. 

Resistance and Acquiescence 

Politicians everywhere in the North and in the South did all they Finality 
could to induce the people to accept the compromise measures as a 
finality. They proclaimed that the slavery question was settled 
for good and all and execrated the name of the man who should 
again open the issue. In many cases these appeals for finality were 
made in all sincerity and simplicity of purpose. "It is one of the 
enigmas of history," says R. G. Usher, "that men should delude 
themselves into the belief that the waters have been swept back 
with the broom of argument at just the moment when the tidal 
wave, as yet a tiny crest of white along the distant horizon, is 
rushing towards them with the speed of a race horse." Clay's 
compromise by averting the impending crisis brought a brief tran- 
quillity to the country, but it was not a healthful quiet. Nobody 
was satisfied, not even the politicians themselves. It was in vain, 
therefore, that leaders attempted to suppress discussion and agita- 
tion. "To be told," said James Russell Lowell, "that one ought 
not to agitate the question of slavery when it is that which is forever 
agitating us, is like telling a man with the fever and ague on him to 
stop shaking and he will be better." 

In the South the advocates of peace and harmony were able to a Harsh 
secure at least a half-hearted acceptance of the compromise acts. 
In the North, however, the acceptance could hardly have been said 
to be even half-hearted. A large portion of the Northern people 
were thrown into a fury by the new Fugitive-slave Law. This 
statute denied the right of trial by jury to the fugitive claiming 
to be a free man; it excluded the testimony of the negro whose 
freedom was at stake; it imposed a penalty of fine and imprison- 



386 SLAVERY AN OVERSHADOWING ISSUE 

chap. ment upon any person hindering the arrest of a fugitive or attempt- 

ing to rescue and free from custody or aiding one to escape ; it gave 

Federal commissioners the power to pass on the merits of cases 
instead of leaving this power with State officials ; it gave the com- 
missioner a double fee if he determined that the service of the 
negro was due the claimant ; it provided — and this was one of its 
most objectionable features — that any citizen might be called upon 
to aid in enforcing the law : ' ' and all good citizens are hereby com- 
manded to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient execution of 
this law, whenever their services may be required. ' ' 
The Seward had warned the Senate that public sentiment in the 

for^Mnauty North would not support the enforcement of the Fugitive-slave Law, 
and he was right. The revolt against the statute was widespread. 
"The act of Congress of September 18th, 1850," said Ralph Waldo 
Emerson, " is a law which every one of you will break on the earliest 
occasion — a law which no man can obey, or abet the obeying, with- 
out loss of self-respect and forfeiture of the name of gentleman." 
Antislavery people everywhere poured upon the law the vials of 
their wrath : it was unconstitutional ; it was immoral ; it was 
abhorrent to every instinct of justice ; it was inhuman and dia- 
bolical. Leaders like Clay, Webster, Douglas, Cass, Choate, and 
Buchanan came out in defense of the law and urged upon citizens 
their duty to obey it, but in some places their counsel was received 
with defiance. Nevertheless, the efforts of these great men to 
persuade the people to accept the compromise as a finality were in 
the main successful. ' ' In spite of the radicals the excitement in the 
North diminished and the people settled down to an attitude of 
sincere but reluctant acquiescence." 
spread- It was a help to the politicians in their campaign for finality 

that they could divert the popular mind from the slavery con- 
troversy to foreign affairs. An opportunity came to Webster to 
fire the American heart with the historic Hiilseman letter. In 1849, 
when the Hungarians were in revolt against their Austrian masters, 
President Taylor had sent an agent to Vienna to watch the course 
of events with a view of giving recognition to the new Hungarian 
government, if one should be established. Hiilseman, the Austrian 
minister at Washington, remonstrated, his protest reaching Webster 
just after he had taken office as secretary of state. Webster replied 
in a letter defending our right to take an interest in the extraor- 
dinary events which were occurring in Austria and other parts of 



eagluism 



RESISTANCE AND ACQUIESCENCE 387 

Europe, and declaring that although the United States had at all ™,™ p - 

times abstained from interfering with the political changes in 

Europe it could not fail to cherish always a lively interest in the 
fortunes of nations struggling for institutions like their own. In 
the letter was this sentence: "The power of this republic, at the 
present moment, is spread over a region one of the richest and most 
fertile on the globe, and of an extent in comparison with which the 
possessions of the House of Hapsburg are but as a patch on the 
earth's surface." Webster himself acknowledged that the letter 
was "boastful and rough," but he excused its spread-eagle tone on 
the ground that he wished ' ' to touch the national pride and make a 
man feel sheepish and look silly who should speak of disunion." 

Another event that caused men to forget the slavery troubles was Kossuth 
the furor that was kindled by the arrival of Louis Kossuth, the 
leader of the Hungarian revolt. The movement for the independ- 
ence of Hungary had ended in failure, and Kossuth as an exile 
found his way to America. Coming as a national guest he was 
received everywhere with unbounded enthusiasm. It was his hope 
that he would be able to persuade the United States to intervene in 
behalf of Hungary. But in this he was disappointed. He was 
received at Washington by Congress and the President with every 
mark of respect and sympathy; but further than this officialdom 
could not see its way to go. To intervene, leaders said, would be 
to abandon our long-cherished policy of non-intervention in Euro- 
pean affairs. "Far better it is for us," said Clay to Kossuth, "for 
Hungary, and for the cause of liberty, that, adhering to our wise 
and pacific system, and avoiding the distant waters of Europe, we 
should keep our lamp burning brightly on this western shore as a 
light to all nations, than to hazard its utter extinction amid the 
ruins of fallen and falling republics." When Kossuth left the 
country in the summer of 1852, all he could take with him was the 
country's sympathy and a small sum of money. 

While Kossuth was touring the country in behalf of Hungary, Franklin 

PisrcG 

politicians were planning for the great quadrennial game. The 
Democrats in 1852 nominated Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire 
as their candidate for President. Pierce was a man of "amiable 
mediocrity" and negative qualities. His critics sometimes said 
in a jocular way that there was not enough positiveness in his 
character to enable him to refuse a drink. Yet he was brave and 
handsome; his enemies were few; his manners were graceful and 



388 



SLAVERY AN OVERSHADOWING ISSUE 



CHAP. 
XIX 



Clay and 
Webster 
Pass Away 



winning. On the subject of slavery and freedom his opinions were 
unknown, although there was a rumor that he once said that he did 
not like the Fugitive-slave Act. He was, therefore, an ideal candi- 
date for the Democrats, who went into the campaign with no 
program of positive action. The Whigs nominated General Win- 
field Scott, preferring a military hero to the civilians, Fillmore and 
Webster, both of whom aspired to the nomination. Scott was a 
colorless, non-committal candidate. No one knew what he thought 
about the compromise acts, and the Whigs were careful that the 
public should be kept in the dark on that point. The Whigs and 
Democrats, indeed, vied with each other in keeping the slavery 
question in the background, and in asseverating their entire satis- 
faction with the compromise measures. Of course under such cir- 
cumstances the canvass could be only a dull and listless affair. The 
Democrats, however, succeeded in winning the business interests to 
the side of Pierce and he was elected by an overwhelming majority. 
Scott carried only four States. The Whig party received a blow 
from which it never recovered. 

Before the end of the campaign both Clay and Webster were 
dead. Clay was on his death-bed when the Whig convention was 
in session, and within a fortnight after its adjournment he passed 
away. His life had been a long struggle for the Presidency ; and 
while he failed to secure the prize, he won the affection of the Amer- 
ican people. "Other Americans have been intellectually greater," 
says Rhodes, "others have been more painstaking, others still have 
been greater benefactors to our country, yet no man has been loved 
as the people of the United States loved Henry Clay." Webster 
survived Clay only four months. Webster, too, had sought the 
Presidency long and eagerly, and his last defeat at the Whig con- 
vention was more than his proud spirit could bear. "He was 
stunned, bewildered, unable to carry on his public tasks at the usual 
place with the customary composure. He sought the refuge of his 
lovely home near the resounding surf, there to lay down and die. 
Yet had Webster won the Presidency he could have added little 
to his fame and glory." 



"Uncle 

Tom's 

Cabin" 



The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise 

With the election of Pierce the country tried to make itself believe 
that slavery agitation was at an end. But the country was now a 
ship in a storm, and it was of no use for the passengers to meet in 



THE REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE 389 

the cabin and resolve it was fair weather. In spite of the campaign ^£ p - 

for ''finality," the agitation went on. Millions of tongues were 

set in motion and millions of consciences were stirred by Harriet 
Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which appeared in book 
form during the campaign of 1852. This story of slave life touched 
the heart and brought tears to the eyes. The book was written in a 
most charming style, and it held the reader spellbound. One woman 
said she could no more leave the story than she could leave a dying 
child. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was fiction, it is true, and it drew an 
unfair picture of slave conditions, yet it left upon the minds of its 
Northern readers the indelible impression that slavery was cruel, 
brutal, and unjust. The book doubtless had little effect upon the 
election in 1852, yet countless thousands of impressionable boys who 
read it that year were voters in 1856 and 1860. 

Not only did writers and incorrigible agitators like Garrison and ^^ h f^ s A - 
Phillips continue to disturb the political waters, but even the 
responsible leaders themselves would not let the subject of slavery 
rest. Foremost among the disturbers was Stephen A. Douglas. 
This son of Vermont made his way while yet a boy to southern 
Illinois, where he was admitted to the bar before he reached man- 
hood. High-strung and ambitious almost beyond the bounds of 
reason, he climbed the ladder as fast as his restless and indomitable 
energy could lift him from one rung to another. At twenty -two he 
was elected to the office of State's attorney; at twenty-three was 
a member of the State legislature ; at twenty-eight, a judge ; at 
thirty, a member of the national House of Representatives; at 
thirty-three a United States senator. A short body — he was hardly 
five feet tall, — a head of tremendous size, and great intellectual 
power combined to gain for him the title of the Little Giant. In 
his manners and personal appearance he was outlandishly gro- 
tesque. John Quincy Adams in his diary gives the following pen- 
picture of the Little Giant as he appeared when making a speech 
on the floor of the House of Representatives: "His face was 
convulsed, his gesticulation frantic, he lashed himself into such a 
heat that if his body had been made of combustible matter it would 
have burnt out. In the midst of his roaring, to save himself from 
choking, he stripped off and cast away his cravat, unbuttoned his 
waistcoat, and had the air and aspect of a half -naked pugilist." 
Yet this stormy Little Giant was a prince of politicians and the 
shrewdest parliamentary leader in Congress. 



390 



SLAVERY AN OVERSHADOWING ISSUE 



CHAP. 
XIX 



The 

Nebraska 

Country 



The Kansas- 
Nebraska 
Bill 



The bomb which Douglas caused to explode was a bill which he 
brought iuto the Senate in 1854 for the organization of the Nebraska 
country, a region which comprised what are now the States of 
Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and 
parts of Wyoming and Colorado. For nearly ten years he had been 
trying to secure a settled government for this ''no-man's-land," 
but Congress had refused to act. By 1854 the question of a Terri- 
torial government for Nebraska had become entangled with a num- 
ber of other questions — Indian titles, land grants, transcontinental 
railroads, Missouri factional quarrels. The thing that worked 
most strongly against the organization of Nebraska was the fact 
that it lay north of the parallel of 36° 30' and was, therefore, by 
the terms of the Missouri Compromise, closed against slavery. In 
western Missouri there was a vigorous pro-slavery party led by 
Senator David Atchison, which stood ready to prevent the creation 
of free States north of the compromise line. To meet this oppo- 
sition Douglas in 1854 offered a bill providing that the Nebraska 
country should be organized into two Territories, Kansas and 
Nebraska; that the Missouri Compromise should be formally re- 
pealed; and that the settlers in each of the new Territories should 
determine for themselves whether they should have slaves or not. 

This measure — known as the Kansas-Nebraska Bill — was the 
boldest that had ever been offered to the American Congress. To 
repeal the Missouri Compromise and throw open to slavery the vast 
region that had been reserved for freedom was to the minds of 
most Northerners nothing less than a violation of a sacred compact. 
Why did Douglas make this extreme and unexpected move ? Some 
historians explain his action by ascribing to him the motives of a 
' ' railroad senator. " " Douglas, ' ' says Max Farrand, ' ' was a great 
believer in extending the railway facilities throughout the West. 
... To advance the railroads farther into the West they must be 
built through the Indian country, the title to which had to be 
extinguished and the land taken under government control. This 
could be done by the creation of new Territories, and Douglas 
accordingly introduced a bill for erecting the country just west of 
Missouri into the organized Territories of Kansas and Nebraska. 
If there were any political motives involved as commonly charged, 
they would seem to have been subordinate to the purpose of railway 
extension." But this railroad theory of the Little Giant's motives 
would have failed to satisfy his contemporaries: they almost to a 



THE REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE 391 

man believed that Douglas was playing politics, and nothing else ; £ha p. 

that he had offered the bill as a bid for the support of the South' in 

the coming election. Nor does it satisfy all of the historians. "It 
may with confidence," says J. F. Rhodes when discussing the 
motives of Douglas in offering the bill, "be affirmed that this action 
of the Illinois senator was a bid for Southern support in the next 
Democratic convention." Douglas himself, of course, disavowed 
all selfish motives in the matter. He knew, he said, that he was 
doing a very unpopular thing, and one that might end his political 
career, but, acting under the sense of duty which animated him, he 
was prepared to make the sacrifice. 

In support of his bill Douglas urged the democratic doctrine of "Squatter 
popular or "squatter sovereignty": the people of each Territory ty" 
were to vote on the question of slavery ; if the majority was in favor 
of slavery it was to be a slave Territory, but if the majority was 
unfavorable to slavery it was to be a free Territory. The act itself 
declared that its true intent and meaning was "not to legislate 
slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, 
but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate 
their domestic institutions in their own way." This provision, it 
will be observed, was almost precisely what had been ordained for 
New Mexico and Utah in the compromise of 1850. 1 

The act in its final form expressly declared the Missouri Com- 
promise "inoperative and void." Here was a gift to slavery that 
surprised even the pro-slavery men themselves, for the most ardent 
of them had not hoped for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. 
And few of them had asked for so great a concession. Yet since 
the gift was proffered by Northern hands the South could not be 
expected to refuse it. "When one Northern senator put on the 
saddle, and another the bridle, while a Northern President obse- 
quiously offered the stirrup, Southern chivalry acted by its instincts 
when it bestrode the steed to ride it." 

Douglas was thoroughly in earnest and he- managed the bill in an J}}* 

° & J ° Missouri 

adroit and successful manner, pushing it through with whip and Compro- 
spur. When the time came to vote he was assisted by Southern Repealed 
Whigs and about half of the Northern Democrats. Southern Dem- 
ocrats, of course, were only too glad to seize such a magnificent 
opportunity for slavery extension. The South flew to the bill as a 
moth to a candle. In the Senate the measure passed by a vote of 

1 See p. 382. 



392 SLAVERY AN OVERSHADOWING ISSUE 

chap. thirty-five to twelve ; in the House by a vote of 113 to 100. In the 

Senate twenty-eight Democrats and nine Whigs voted for the bill 

and five Democrats and seven Whigs against it. In the House 
forty-four Northern and fifty-seven Southern Democrats and twelve 
Whigs from the slave States voted for the bill; against it were 
forty-five Whigs and forty-two Democrats from the North and two 
Democrats and seven AVhigs from the slave States. The vote 
showed that on the slavery question the Whigs of the South were 
ready to break away from those of the North. "What you have so 
long wished for," wrote Seward to his wife, "has come around at 
last. The Whigs of the North are separated from the Whigs of the 
South, and happily by the act of the latter, not the former." Thus 
the Missouri Compromise was repealed, and it seemed that the 
agitation begun in 1846 by Wilmot in favor of restricting slavery 
was only to end in an enormous extension of territory into which 
masters might lawfully take their slaves. 
<rf theBm The Kansas-Nebraska Bill was more pregnant with results than 
any measure that had ever been passed by Congress. It threw the 
whole country into a ferment of excitement and set in motion a 
train of events which led to a civil war. Its immediate effect was 
to bring slavery extension to the front and make it an overshadow- 
ing issue, one that would have to be taken up and dealt with in 
definitive fashion. Hitherto there had been compromise and 
shuffling and evasion, but now men were compelled to take sides; 
every man in the land had to decide whether he was for the exten- 
sion of slavery or against it. ' ' The bill annuls all past compromises 
with slavery," said Sumner, "and makes all future compromises 
impossible. Thus it puts freedom and slavery face to face and bids 
them grapple." 

1 The pro-slavery leaders were now entertaining hopes that Cuba might be 
annexed and made a field for the further extension of slavery. In the early 
fifties filibustering expeditions fitted out in the United States were sent against 
Cuba with the result that the island was kept in a state of turmoil. The 
remedy proposed by Southern leaders for the troubles in Cuba was annexa- 
tion. In 1854 our ministers to Great Britain, France, and Spain met at Ostend 
and drew up what was known as the Ostend Manifesto. This in effect declared 
that Spain ought to sell Cuba to the United States ; that Cuba was necessary 
for the safety of slavery in the Southern States; and that if Spain should 
refuse to sell, self-preservation required that it be wrested from her by force. 
The declaration, however, was not generally supported by public opinion in 
the United States, and it was strongly condemned in Europe. The movement 
for annexation was accordingly dropped and the Ostend Manifesto came to 
naught. 



THE REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE 393 

Suggested Readings 

Wilmot Proviso : McMaster, Vol. VII, pp. 480-488. 

Administration of Zachary Taylor : Schouler, Vol. V, pp. 129-187. 

Compromise of 1850: Schouler, Vol. V, pp. 167-212. 

Webster's seventh of March Speech : McMaster, Vol. VIII, pp. 23-27. 

Democrats reunited: Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 244-257. 

Underground railroad : Siebert, W. H. 



XX 

THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 
The Beginning of the Republican Party 
Resentment r^ UMNER was right ; the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill 

in the North ^^ . 

k_J marked the end of compromises and the beginning of a death 
struggle between the enemies and friends of slavery. No sooner 
was the obnoxious measure spread upon the statute-book than a 
deep-seated and implacable resentment was everywhere manifest 
in antislavery circles. The censure visited upon the author of the 
bill exceeded the bounds of moderation. Douglas said he could 
travel by the light of his own burning effigies from Boston to 
Chicago. The displeasure of the antislavery people assumed a 
variety of forms. In many places retaliation was resorted to. 
Feeling that the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was an act of 
bad faith, the radical antislavery men gave a return blow by re- 
newing their fight against the Fugitive-slave Law of 1850. In 
Boston leading citizens resisted in a violent manner the attempts 
of United States officers to recapture runaway slaves. In Rhode 
Island, Connecticut, and Michigan the resistance virtually took the 
form of nullification, for in these States were enacted personal- 
liberty laws, which provided that State jails should not be used for 
detaining fugitives; that negroes who were claimed as slaves 
should be entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus and 
of trial by jury; and that the seizure of a free person with the 
intent of reducing him to slavery should be punished by fine and 
imprisonment. Another effect of the Kansas-Nebraska Law was 
to spur the abolitionists to greater activity and increase their 
numbers. "Pierce and Douglas," said Horace Greeley in May, 
1854, "have made more abolitionists in three months than Garrison 
and Phillips could have made in a century." The repeal of the 
Missouri Compromise threw Garrison into a frenzy of dissent. He 
felt that the slaveholders had won a complete triumph and that the 
time had come for the North to break away from the South. "There 
is," said his "Liberator," "but one honest, straight-forward course 

394 



"BLEEDING KANSAS" 395 

to pursue if we would see the slave power overthrown; the Union £**ap. 

must be dissolved." To show his disgust with constituted law and 

authority he publicly burned the Fugitive-slave Law and the Con- 
stitution of the United States at a meeting of abolitionists which 
was held at Framingham, on July 4, 1854. 

The more judicious opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act Republican 
wanted no violence or secession. Responsible leaders believed that organized 
if the advance of slavery was to be checked the antislavery senti- 
ment of the North must be united and a new party organized. 
"Only in one way," says Francis Curtis, "could the further 
progress of the evil be averted, and that was through the organiza- 
tion and development and power of a great political party which 
must sweep almost the entire North in order to outvote the now 
solid South, and pass laws which would arrest and check, if not 
overthrow, the power that now seemed almost irresistible. ' ' 

Such a party was not long in forming. Indeed, antislavery senti- 
ment began to crystallize while the Kansas-Nebraska Bill was still 
pending in Congress. In March, 1854, a meeting of citizens of all 
parties was held in a school-house at Ripon, Wisconsin, and at this 
meeting it was recommended that a new party be organized on the 
issue of slavery extension. The idea spread, and within a few 
months the ball was set rolling. In July, 1854, several thousand 
citizens of Michigan assembled in an oak grove on the outskirts of 
the town of Jackson and resolved that they would act faithfully in 
unison to oppose the extension of slavery and would continue the 
battle until the contest was terminated. The new party was 
christened "Republican." "Call it Republican, no prefix, no suffix, 
but plain Republican," was the advice of Horace Greeley. The 
Jackson meeting, besides adopting a platform of principles, nomi- 
nated candidates for State offices. The example of Michigan was 
followed in other States, and when the autumn elections of 1854 
were held there were Republican tickets in the field in Wisconsin, 
Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine. In Wisconsin and Michigan 
the Republicans were successful. Thus within a few months after 
the Missouri Compromise was repealed a new party was gathering 
strength to resist the extension of slavery. 

"Bleeding Kansas" 
Events in the West gave the Republicans at the outset a definite a Concrete 

. Issue 

concrete issue. As the Kansas-Nebraska Bill had made the soil of 



396 THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 

£x AP - Kansas a prize to be contended for by the forces of slavery and the 

forces of freedom, the struggle began the moment the gauntlet was 

thrown down. That it would be a bitter struggle was foretold by 
Seward when he exclaimed: "Come on then, gentlemen of the 
slave States ! Since there is no escaping your challenge, I accept it 
on behalf of freedom. We will engage in competition for the virgin 
soil of Kansas, and God give the victory to the side that is stronger 
in numbers as it is in the right. ' ' 

Emigrants from Arkansas and Missouri rushed into Kansas with 
the purpose of making it a slave State ; emigrants from the North 
rushed to the new Territory determined to make it a free State. 
In the race the slave State people at first had the advantage, for, 
being closer to the scene, they could cross over the Missouri line 
and take possession at once. But this advantage was quickly offset 
by the activities of the Emigrant Aid Society, which was organized 
in the North for the express purpose of hurrying settlers into 
Kansas. Whether starting from the North or the South the Kansas- 
bound emigrants went out as crusaders in a cause rather than as 
pioneers seeking homes. "It is much better," said Eli Thayer, a 
leader of the Emigrant Aid Society, "to go and do something for 
free labor than to stay at home and talk of manacles and auction- 
blocks and bloodhounds, while deploring the never-ending aggres- 
sions of slavery. " "I tell you, ' ' said Stringf ellow, a leader of the 
pro-slavery faction, "to mark every scoundrel among you who is 
the least tainted with abolitionism and exterminate him. Neither 
give nor take quarter, as the cause demands it." 
Conventfon ^e slave State people settled along the Missouri River, founding 
the towns of Atchison, Leavenworth, and Lecompton. The free 
State people made settlements along the Kansas River, their prin- 
cipal towns being Topeka, Lawrence, and Osawatomie. The strug- 
gle for mastery began in earnest in March, 1855, when an election 
was held for a Territorial legislature. In this contest the pro- 
slavery men won, their victory being due largely to an organized 
band of Missourians who rode across the border on election day, 
cast their votes, and returned at once to Missouri. The free State 
men, attempting to ignore this election as fraudulent, proceeded to 
organize and set up an independent Territorial government of their 
own, planning to bring the new Territory into the Union as a free 
State. With this end in view they held a convention at Topeka in 
October, 1855, and drew up a constitution which prohibited slavery. 



" BLEEDING KANSAS" 



397 



Violence 
in Kansas 



When this constitution was submitted to the voters of the Territory ^ AP 

the pro-slavery men refused to take part in the voting. 

Here were the first-fruits of Douglas's plan of ''squatter sov- 
ereignty ' ' : two zealous and truculent factions, one trying to 
establish slavery in Kansas, the other to prohibit it. Violence and 
outrage followed almost as a matter of course. In May, 1856, the 
town of Lawrence was attacked by a mob of slave State men and 
destroyed. In revenge John Brown, with his four sons and three 
other men, went along the Pottawatomie Creek at midnight, dragged 
five pro-slavery men from their cabins, and killed them in cold 
blood. Fanatic that he was, Brown did this, it would seem, not 




Scene of the Struggle in Kansas 



from a spirit of animosity toward the particular men who were his 
victims, but from a sense of duty to his God. He felt that he was 
divinely commissioned to perform the bloody deed. "It has been 
decreed," he said, "by Almighty God, ordained from all eternity, 
that I should make an example of these men. ' ' 

The violence that was rife in Kansas over the extension of The Attack 
slavery had its counterpart in the very halls of the national legis- torSumner 
lature. In the spring of 1856 the free State people were before 
Congress asking that Kansas be admitted as a State under the 
Topeka constitution. The debate on the question of admission was 
replete with bad humor and angry philippics. Senator Charles 
Sumner of Massachusetts "freed his mind with almost hyperbolical 
language in a speech as offensive and insulting to the South as the 
fertile imagination of the author could possibly make it." A por- 



398 THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 

chap. tion of Sumner's speech was a vitriolic attack upon Senator Butler 
of South Carolina. Two clays after this speech was delivered 
Butler's nephew, Preston Brooks, a member of the House of 
Representatives from South Carolina, entered the Senate chamber 
and with his cane beat Sumner until he was in an insensible con- 
dition. The House passed a resolution of censure upon Brooks. 
He immediately resigned, but was almost unanimously reelected 
by his district. The affair created a tremendous sensation. Con- 
gressmen now began to arouse themselves, preparing to meet vio- 
lence with violence. The bill which was the occasion of the trouble 
— the one providing for the admission of Kansas under the Topeka 
constitution — failed of passage in July, 1856. In the House, where 
there was a good sprinkling of Republicans, the vote was in favor 
of admission. In the Senate, however, where the South was still in 
control, admission was refused. 

paramount ^ Presidential campaign was now at hand and the paramount 

1856 m question was : Should Kansas be admitted as a slave State or as a 
free State? Never before had there been a Presidential election 
where the issue was so clear-cut and definite as that which was 
voted upon in 1856. 1 And never before had the situation of political 
parties been more complicated. There were Northern Whigs, South- 
ern Whigs, Northern Democrats, Southern Democrats, and Repub- 
licans; Whigs in the North were going over to the Republicans; 
Whigs in the South to the Democrats. To add to the confusion 
a third party, which held its meetings in secret and threw around 
itself an atmosphere of mystery, was appealing to the people for 
support. This was an organization composed chiefly of members of 
the old Whig party and of discontented Northern Democrats and 
known as the Native-American or Know-nothing party. 

nothing""™' The Native-Americans were the first to name their candidate. 
In February, 1856, a Know-nothing convention met at Philadel- 
phia, delegates from nearly all the States attending. Adopting a 
platform which blew hot and cold on the subject of slavery and 
which declared for "resistance to the corrupting tendencies of the 
Roman Catholic Church" and for the principle that "Americans 
only shall govern America, ' ' the convention nominated ex-President 
Fillmore for President. The attempt to befog the slavery issue 
resulted in disaster, for when the antislavery members found that 

'The bank question in 1832 was perhaps as clear-cut but the personality of 
Jackson entered into the contest ami blurred the issue. 



"BLEEDING KANSAS" 399 

the convention would not come out squarely against slavery exten- chap. 

sion many of them withdrew, and their withdrawal had the result — 

of rending the new party in twain. 

In June the Democrats held their convention at Baltimore, ™ mocrat i C 
Their problem was to name a man who would hold the Northern Nominee 
Democrats faithful to their party and who would also be acceptable 
to the South. Either Pierce or Douglas would suit the South, but 
both of these men had lost their popularity in the North, because 
both had advocated the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. Pierce and Doulas, 
accordingly, were denied the nomination. The most available man 
before the convention was James Buchanan of Pennsylvania. 
Buchanan found favor in the South, for he was a conservative, old- 
line Democrat of the Jackson school; he was not handicapped on 
the slavery issue, for during the Kansas controversy he had been 
absent in England and had not been obliged to take sides; he was 
strong in Pennsylvania, a State whose electoral votes would be 
greatly needed by the Democrats in the approaching election. 
Buchanan, therefore, after much balloting, was nominated. In 
their platform the Democrats stood by the Kansas-Nebraska Law, 
asserting the right of the people of the Territories, "acting through 
the legally and fairly expressed will of the majority of the actual 
residents and whenever the number of their inhabitants justifies, to 
form a constitution with or without slavery." 

The Republicans by this time had a strong organization and were The 
ready to enter the Presidential race. They held their first national Nominee 
convention in Philadelphia. All the Northern States were repre- 
sented, but there was no bona-fide delegation from any Southern 
State. The Republican candidate of 1856 was John C. Fremont, a 
young officer who had taken an active part in the conquest of 
California. The platform declared that it was the right and duty of 
Congress to prohibit slavery in the Territories and demanded the 
immediate admission of Kansas as a State of the Union with a free 
constitution. 

The election of 1856 was a contest in which passion burned The 
fiercely, the events in Kansas supplying the fuel. The key-note of of a 'i856 rn 
the campaign on the Republican side was struck by Seward in a 
great speech at Rochester. "It is," said he, "an irrepressible 
conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that 
the United States must and will, sooner or later, become either 
entirely a slaveholding nation or entirely a free labor nation. . . . 



400 THE RISE OF THE EEPUBLICAN PARTY 

chap. I know and you know that a revolution has begun. I know and 

all the world knows that revolutions never go backward." In the 

North clergymen, professors in the colleges, the men devoted to 
literature and science, teachers in the schools, for the most part 
lined up with the Republicans. "The zeal of many preachers broke 
out in the pulpit, and sermons were frequently delivered on the 
evils of slavery, the wrong of extending it, and the noble struggle 
freedom was making on the plains of Kansas. ' ' In the South there 
were threats of secession in case the Republicans were successful. 
' ' The Southern States, ' ' said Governor Wise of Virginia, ' ' will not 
submit to a sectional election of a Free-soiler or Black Republican." 
But the South at this time had no fears that the Republicans would 
win, for Buchanan had the support of the entire slaveholding 
class, while in the North the antislavery element was by no means 
entirely united against him. The result was a victory for the 
Democrats. Buchanan received 174 electoral votes and Fremont 
114. The Republicans, however, received an enormous vote, the 
popular poll being 1,838,000 for Buchanan, 1,342,000 for Fremont, 
and 874,000 for Fillmore. Of the votes cast for Fremont nearly 
all came from the North. In the slave States he received virtually 
no votes at all. It was now plain to the minds of all men that the 
Republican party was to be a sectional party and that the slavery 
question was to be fought out in a bitter contest between the North 
and the South. 

The Dred Scott Decision 

The slavery No sooner was Buchanan inaugurated on March 4, 1857, than 

Not at Rest the slavery question suddenly took on a new complexion. Buchanan 
would fain have believed that this question was at rest. In his 
inaugural address, when touching upon the legal power of the 
inhabitants of a Territory to prohibit slavery, he said: "This is 
happily a matter of but little practical importance. Besides, it is a 
judicial decision which legitimately belongs to the Supreme Court 
of the United States, before whom it is now pending, and will, it is 
understood, be speedily and finally settled. ' ' The decision to which 
the President referred was the one rendered in the case of Dred 
Scott. 

of h the acts The facts in this celebrated case were clear and simple enough. 

Dred Scott g cott was a s i ave w h h a £ been taken by his master, first to Illinois, 
where slavery was prohibited by the Ordinance of 1787; then to 



THE DRED SCOTT DECISION 401 

Minnesota Territory, where slavery was prohibited by the Missouri chap. 

Compromise; and then to Missouri, a slave State. In Missouri 

Scott brought suit in court for his freedom on the ground that his 
residence in free Illinois and free Minnesota made him a free man. 
His case in course of appeal at last reached the Supreme Court of 
the United States and was decided by that tribunal two days after 
Buchanan was inaugurated, the decision being handed down by 
Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. 

The first question, and under ordinary procedure the only ques- The 
tion, which the court had to decide was this: Was Dred Scott a 
citizen of the United States within the meaning of the Constitution 
and did he have any rightful standing in the Federal courts? To 
this question the court returned a flat negative : Scott, being a 
negro and a descendant of slave parents, could not be a citizen of 
the United States and could not therefore carry his suit into a 
Federal court. The case was accordingly dismissed for want of 
jurisdiction and the negro was remanded to slavery. 

If the court had stopped with a simple dismissal of the case little 
would have been heard of it. But the court did not stop there. It 
went on to decide another question, namely : Was Congress author- 
ized to pass the Missouri Compromise Act under any of the powers 
granted to it by the Constitution? To this question the court also 
returned a negative : Congress had no more right to prohibit 
slavery north of the line 36° 30' than it had to prohibit the carrying 
of horses or any other property into the territory north of that line. 
That is to say, the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and 
void. 

The decision made a profound impression upon the public mind. a 
It cut the ground from under the feet of the Republicans. It 
virtually said to them that even if they gained control of Congress 
they could not prevent the extension of slavery. For slavery now 
wore a new legal aspect : Congress was now stripped of every right 
and power in regard to the extension or restriction of slavery. If, 
after this decision, Congress should attempt to prohibit slavery in 
Kansas or anywhere else, whether in a State or in a Territory, its 
action would be void. Under the Constitution Congress could pre- 
serve and protect slavery but it was powerless to prohibit it. The 
decision accorded perfectly with the doctrine of Calhoun: slavery 
was a domestic institution wholly beyond the power or jurisdiction 
of the Federal Government. "The opinion of the court," says 



of the 
Decision 



402 



THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 



CHAP. 
XX 



Woodrow Wilson, "sustained the whole Southern claim. Not even 
the exercise of squatter sovereignty could have the countenance of 
law ; Congress must protect every citizen of the country in carrying 
with him into the Territories property of whatever kind until such 
time as the Territory in which he settled should become a State, and 
pass beyond the direct jurisdiction of the Federal Government." 
The State and the State alone could allow or disallow slavery. 



The Lecompton Constitution 



a Poetical jf Buchanan really believed that slavery agitation would be put 
to rest by the Dred Scott decision he was cruelly disappointed. At 
the assembling of Congress in December, 1857, he found the trouble- 
some question still at the front. The pro-slavery people were now 
attempting to bring Kansas in as a slave State. But they could 
hardly hope to do this by fair means, for they were greatly out- 
numbered by the free State people. Slaveholders were reluctant to 
take their slaves into Kansas, for there was no certainty that 
slavery would be permanently legalized in the new State when it 
was admitted. At no time -were there in Kansas more than two or 
three hundred slaves. But the pro-slavery men were bent on 
making Kansas a slave State, and in order to accomplish their 
purpose they resorted to trickery. They drew up at Lecompton a 
constitution and caused it to be submitted to the people for rati- 
fication. In the proposed constitution was this clause: "The right 
of property is before and higher than any constitutional sanction, 
and the right of the owner of a slave to such slave and its increase 
is the same and as inviolable as the right of the owner of any 
property whatever." In voting upon the question of ratification 
the voter was asked to vote, not for or against the constitution, but 
for the constitution with slavery or for the constitution without 
slavery. If he voted at all he would have to vote for the constitu- 
tion whether he liked it or not. Of course the antislavery people 
could not vote for a constitution which contained the objectionable 
clause just quoted. The free State men therefore refused to par- 
ticipate in the election, with the result that the pro-slavery men 
easily carried the day and the constitution with slavery was ratified. 
President Buchanan now sent a message to Congress, in Feb- 
ruary, 1858, recommending the admission of Kansas as a slave State 
and declaring that the Lecompton constitution had been regularly 



THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES 403 

adopted. But powerful leaders in Congress refused to be partners £^ AP - 

in such questionable business. In both houses the proposed con- 

stitution was bitterly assailed. Douglas denounced it as not being* 
the act of the people of Kansas or embodying their will. It was a 
trick, he said, and a fraud upon the rights of the people. 

The whole influence of the administration and every resource of The Failure 

J of the 

patronage was brought to bear upon Congress to secure the admis- comStutt 1 ! 
sion of Kansas under the Lecompton constitution. The friends of 
the measure were successful in the Senate, but they were checked 
in the House. In order to break the deadlock a compromise was 
effected : it was agreed that Congress should offer to Kansas a con- 
ditional grant of public lands; if the land should be accepted by a 
popular vote Kansas was to be admitted to the Union with the 
Lecompton constitution ; if the gift of land should be rejected 
Kansas was not to be admitted until the Territory had a population 
equal to the unit of representation required for the House of 
Representatives. The land was offered as a lure to induce voters to 
accept the constitution. But try as they might it seemed that the 
pro-slavery people could not bring Kansas in as a slave State. 
When the vote was taken upon the Lecompton constitution with the 
land clause attached both the constitution and the proffered land 
gift were rejected by an overwhelming majority. Kansas accord- 
ingly had to remain a Territory, and she was to be a slave Territory 
despite the wishes of her people ; for it must be clearly understood 
that the Dred Scott decision legalized the slavery that existed in 
Kansas and gave it the full protection of the Constitution of the 
United States. What, then, became of the principle of "squatter 
sovereignty ' ' ? 

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 

The question just asked was presently to perplex the great {£^ 1 i j[ 1 B and 
champion of "squatter sovereignty." When Douglas ventured to ueiztx 
oppose the Lecompton constitution he gravely offended the admin- 
istration. Buchanan withdrew from him all Federal patronage, 
and in many of the counties in Illinois anti-Douglas tickets were put 
up with the expectation of electing a legislature hostile to the Little 
Giant. When Douglas came up for reelection in 1858 he was 
accordingly forced to give an account of himself on the hustings. 
His rival for the senatorial honor was Abraham Lincoln, who came 
forward as the Republican candidate. Lincoln challenged Douglas 



404 



THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 



CHAP. 
XX 



Lincoln's 
Autobiog- 
raphy 



A "House 
Divided 
Against 
Itself" 



to a joint debate and the most remarkable forensic discussion in the 
history of American politics followed. 

Compared with his great antagonist, Lincoln in 1858 was an 
obscure man. The story of his life up to this time has been told by 
himself in the following words: "I was born February 12, 1809, 
in Hardin County, Kentucky. . . . My father removed from Ken- 
tucky to what is now Spencer County, Indiana, in my eighth year. 
. . . There I grew up. There were some schools, so called, but no 
qualifications were ever required of a teacher beyond readin', 
writin', and cypherin' to the rule of three. Of course when I 
became of age I did not know much. I have not been to school 
since. I was raised to farm-work, which I continued until I was 
twenty-two. At twenty-one I came to Illinois, Macon County. 
Then I got to New Salem, where I remained a year as a sort of clerk 
in a store. Then came the Black Hawk War and I was elected a 
captain of volunteers, which gave me more pleasure than any I have 
had since. I ran for the legislature the same year [1832] and was 
beaten, the only time I was ever beaten by the people. In 1846 I 
was elected to the lower house of Congress. ... I was losing in- 
terest in politics when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise 
aroused me again. What I have since done is pretty well known. 
I am in height 6 feet 4 inches nearly, lean in flesh, weighing on an 
average of 180 pounds, dark complexion with coarse black hair and 
gray eyes." 

In the Lincoln-Douglas debates slavery was always the central 
theme. In a speech delivered in June, 1858, before the debate 
began Lincoln had said : "I believe this government cannot endure 
permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to 
be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it 
will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the 
other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further 
spread of it and place it where the public mind shall rest in the 
belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates 
will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the 
States, old as well as new — North as well as South." When the 
two leaders met in August at Ottawa where the debate opened, 
Douglas with powerful effect attacked this "house-divided-against- 
itself" doctrine. "Why can't the Union endure divided against 
itself into free and slave States? Why can't it exist upon the same 
principle upon which our fathers made it? Our fathers knew 



THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES 405 

when they made this government that in a country as wide and xx AP ' 

broad as this — with such a variety of climate, of interests, of pro- 

duction — the people necessarily required different local laws and 
local institutions in certain localities from those in other localities. 
They knew that the laws and regulations that would suit the 
granite hills of New Hampshire would be unsuited to the rice 
plantations of South Carolina. Hence they provided that each 
State should retain its own legislature and its own sovereignty with 
the full complete power to do as it pleased within its own limits in 
all that was local and not national. One of the reserved rights of 
the States was that of regulating the relation between master and 
slave, or the slavery question. At that time — that is, when the 
Constitution was made — there were thirteen States in the Union, 
twelve of which were slave States and one was a free State. Sup- 
pose the doctrine of uniformity — all to be one or all to be the other 
— now preached by Mr. Lincoln, had prevailed then, what would 
have been the result? Of course the twelve slaveholding States 
would have overruled the one free State and slavery would have 
been fostered by a constitutional provision on every inch of the 
American continent, instead of being as our fathers wisely left it, 
each State to decide for itself." 

In the course of the debate every phase of the slavery problem j^eMorais 
was presented to the audiences. Douglas had the advantage of °* slavery 
education, oratorical skill, and personal magnetism. In the dis- 
cussion of constitutional questions the Little Giant often, rose 
superior to his antagonist. But when it came to the moral aspect 
of the problem the advantage was all with Lincoln. Douglas did 
not seem to care a rap for the morals of slavery, while Lincoln 
cherished a deep conviction that slavery was wrong. He hated 
slavery, he said, as much as any abolitionist. In the debate which 
was held at Quincy Lincoln pressed the moral phase of the subject. 
"Indeed, Judge Douglas," he said, "has the high distinction, so 
far as I know, of never having said slavery is either right or wrong. 
Almost everybody else says one or the other, but the judge never 
does. . . . Whenever we can get the question distinctly stated, can 
get all those men who believe that slavery is in some of these respects 
wrong to stand and act with us in treating it as a wrong, — then 
and not till then, I think we will in some way come to an end of 
this slavery agitation." Was slavery right or wrong ? To the mind 
of Lincoln this was the real issue. "That is the issue which will 



406 



THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 



CHAP. 
XX 



Lincoln's 
Tolerance 



The Result 
of the 
Debate 



continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas 
and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these 
two principles — right and wrong — throughout the world." 

In his speeches Lincoln refrained from bitterness and severity. 
Nothing could be kindlier or more tolerant than what he said to his 
audience at Galesburg. "I think I have no prejudice against the 
Southern people. They are just what we would be in their situa- 
tion. If slavery did not now exist amongst them they would not 
introduce it. If it did now exist amongst us. we should not instantly 
give it up. This I believe of the masses of the North and South. 
. . . When Southern people tell us that they are no more responsible 
for the origin of slavery than we, I acknowledge the fact. When it 
is said that the institution exists, and that it is very difficult to get 
rid of it, in any satisfactory way, I can understand and appreciate 
the saying. I surely will not blame them for not doing what I 
should not know how to do myself. If all earthly power were given 
me, I should not know what to do as to the existing institution. . . . 
I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the insti- 
tution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no 
lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. I have no 
purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white 
and black races. . . . But I hold that, notwithstanding all this, 
there is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all 
the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence 
— the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. ... In 
the right to eat the bread without the leave of anybody else, which 
his own hand earns, he is my equal and the equal of Judge Douglas, 
and the equal of every living man." 

Douglas secured a majority in the legislature and thus won the 
senatorship, for senators at this time were elected by the State 
legislatures. Although he achieved a great personal triumph his 
victory had small political significance. The combined vote of the 
Lincoln candidates was 190,000 as against 174,000 for the avowed 
Douglas candidates. Douglas had the advantage of twelve hold- 
over Democratic State senators. When the legislature met in 
January fifty-four votes were cast for Douglas and forty-six for 
Lincoln. 

The most important result of the debate was the fact that it 
brought Lincoln to the attention of the country, for the contest 
was watched with an interest that was nation-wide and the speeches 



A RAID AND A BOOK 407 

were published in full in many of the leading newspapers. By the xx AP ' 

time the debate was ended Lincoln had shown himself to be a man ■ 

of such force and power that the people of the North had begun to 
regard him with favor as the leader of the Republican party. 

A Raid and a Book 

Events were now constantly tending to widen the gulf between A 0, ^ n Brown 
the North and the South. The excitement aroused by the Lincoln- 
Douglas debates was followed by an episode which stirred the 
nation with a profound agitation. This was a raid led by the 
fanatical John Brown, whom we saw engaged in the Kansas 
struggle. With the purpose of inciting the negroes to rebel against 
their masters Brown on October 19 marched at night into Virginia 
with about twenty companions and seized the arsenal at Harper's 
Ferry. He managed to keep the village in a state of terror for a 
few hours but failed utterly in his efforts to stir the negroes to 
insurrection. As soon as the citizens awoke to the true situation 
an alarm was spread and fighting began. A few men on both sides 
were killed. The mayor of the village was shot and two of Brown 's 
sons lost their lives. The insurgents were quickly surrounded by a 
small force of marines under Colonel Robert E. Lee. Brown was 
advised to surrender, but he refused, saying: "I prefer to die just 
here." He was captured and taken before the governor of Virginia 
and Colonel Lee and subjected by them to a cross-examination as to 
his intentions. He said, "We are abolitionists from the North, come 
to take and release your slaves." After a fair trial in the county 
court at Charlestown he was convicted of treason and murder, and 
was hanged. His end was one of singular dignity and manly 
fortitude. "The cry of the oppressed," he said in prison, "is my 
reason and the only thing that prompted me to come here. ... I 
feel just as content to die for God's eternal truth on the scaffold as 
in any other way. ' ' 

The raid was a miserable failure and in itself was indeed a small J}™ . 

Crown of 

affair; but it created a tremendous sensation. In the South there Martyrdom 
was a paroxysm of terror. When the news spread that an attempt 
had been made to rouse and arm the slaves indignation ran high 
and there were loud cries for vengeance. In the North in the anti- 
slavery circles Brown's lawlessness was in a large measure for- 
gotten and forgiven and the old man received the crown of martyr- 



408 THE RISE OF THE EEPUBLICAN PARTY 

chap. dom. Ralph Waldo Emerson when speaking of Brown to a Boston 

audience referred to him as ' ' that new saint than whom none purer 

or more brave was ever led by love of men into conflict and death — 
the new saint awaiting his martyrdom, and who, if he shall suffer, 
will make the gallows glorious like the cross." And an immense 
concourse of people responded with enthusiasm to this sentiment, 
im^ndin ^ ie f ermen t of opinion caused by Brown's raid was made more 

Crisis" tumultuous by the circulation of a remarkable book which now 
appeared. This was "The Impending Crisis" written by Hinton 
R. Helper of North Carolina. Helper's book was a scathing de- 
nunciation of slavery, but it was written from the point of view of 
the poor whites and not from that of the slave. The author's thesis 
was that slavery depressed and degraded the poor white man and 
enabled the slave-owners to profit at his expense. He presented an 
imposing array of statistics to show that slavery was unsound from 
an economic point of view. He demonstrated with figures that the 
abolition of slavery would result in improving the material interests 
of the South and that the poor whites would share in the prosperity. 
There would be schools for their children, as at the North, and they 
would rise in the social scale. 

Helper, although a Southern man himself, earned the bitter con- 
demnation of the slaveholders. "The volume," said a member of 
Congress, where "The Impending Crisis" created a commotion that 
almost bordered on violence, "riots in rebellion, treason, and insur- 
rection, and is in precisely the spirit of the act which startled us a 
few weeks since at Harper's Ferry." As far as possible the sale 
of the book in the South was stopped. It enjoyed, however, a very 
wide circulation, and next to "Uncle Tom's Cabin" it was the most 
important literary contribution to the pending question. 

The Election of 1860 
Dissension The great debate in Illinois, the John Brown incident, and 

in the ° 

Democratic Helper's book all worked together to focus the attention of men 

Party r to 

upon the slavery question and to make it the paramount issue in 
the election of 1860. On that issue the Democratic party found 
itself split wide open. When the national convention assembled at 
Charleston two factions were struggling violently for control — 
Northern Democrats and Southern Democrats. The Northern 
Democrats wanted Douglas as their candidate, but the Little Giant 




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THE ELECTION OF 1860 409 

had lost caste with the slaveholders. In the debate with Lincoln he xx AP * 



had said at Freeport that the right of the people to make Kansas a 
slave Territory or a free Territory was perfect. This admission 
had strengthened him in the North, for Northern Democrats stood 
firm for the principle of "squatter sovereignty" and upheld 
Douglas in his Freeport speech. The Southern Democrats stood 
just as firm for the doctrine laid down in-the Dred Scott decision, a 
doctrine formulated in their platform in the following words: 
"Neither Congress nor a Territorial legislature, whether by direct 
legislation or legislation of an indirect or unfriendly character, 
possesses the power to annul or impair the constitutional right of 
any citizen of the United States to take his slave property into the 
common Territories and there hold and enjoy the same while the 
Territorial conditions remain." Yancey of Alabama in a remark- 
able speech voiced the cause of the South. Addressing his words 
to the Northern Democrats he charged that the rise of the Republi- 
can party was due to pandering by the Democratic party in the 
free States to antislavery sentiments. "If," he said, "you had 
taken the position directly that slavery was right and therefore 
ought to be, you would have triumphed and antislavery would now 
have been dead in your midst. ' ' The demand that Northern Demo- 
crats say that slavery was right was more than they could stand. 
"Gentlemen of the South," exclaimed Senator Pugh of Ohio, "you 
mistake us — you mistake us — we will not do it." 

The proceedings of the convention soon disclosed fatal dissensions Two 

1 ° ; Platforms 

both about the adoption of a platform and the nomination of and Two 

Nominees 

candidates. When defeated upon a resolution embodying the doc- 
trine of the Dred Scott decision, most of the Southern members 
protested and withdrew. As it was now impossible to nominate a 
candidate under the two thirds •rule, the convention adjourned to 
meet in Baltimore in June. In the meantime the Southern members 
who had withdrawn assembled in another hall in Charleston and 
drew up a platform to their liking. When the regular convention 
reassembled in Baltimore an attempt was made to secure harmony, 
but in vain ; and two Democratic tickets were put in the field. The 
Southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky 
and declared (1) that Congress had no'right to abolish slavery in 
the Territories and (2) that a Territorial legislature had no right 
to abolish slavery in a Territory. The Northern Democrats nomi- 
nated Douglas and declared for popular sovereignty. Thus the 



410 



THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 



CHAP. 
XX 



The 

Nomination 
of Abraham 
Lincoln 



A New 

Political 

Group 



The 

Campaign 



great Democratic party, which had always been a compact national 
organization, became two sectional factions. Leaders were not 
blind to the meaning of the division. "Men," said Alexander 
Stephens, "will be cutting one another's throats in a little while. 
In less than twelve months we shall be in a war. ' ' 

Encouraged by the dissension in the ranks of the opposition the 
Republicans entered the campaign confident of success. They held 
their convention in Chicago in May. Their platform disavowed all 
sympathy with any form of interference with slavery already estab- 
lished in any State ; it declared for the immediate admission of 
Kansas as a free State; it repudiated the Dred Scott decision as a 
"dangerous political heresy"; it favored a protective tariff; it 
demanded Federal aid in the construction of a railway to the 
Pacific. The most prominent candidate for the nomination at the 
opening of the convention was William H. Seward of New York. 
But as the prospect of Republican success was bright, other candi- 
dates pressed forward for the prize. On the third ballot Abraham 
Lincoln was chosen. When it was announced that "Honest Abe" 
was the nominee there arose in the convention hall and outside a 
cheering and a roar of voices like the breaking up of the fountains 
of the great deep ; for the Western democracy was delighted beyond 
measure to know that there had been nominated for the Presidency 
a man who thirty years before had split rails on the Sangamon 
River. 

Several weeks before the nomination of Lincoln another conven- 
tion had met and another nomination had been made. This was 
the convention of a new political group which called itself the 
Constitutional Union party, and which was composed of conserva- 
tives who were unwilling to align themselves with either the Demo- 
crats or the Republicans. The Constitutional Union party nomi- 
nated John Bell of Tennessee and declared for "the Constitution 
of the Country, the Union of the States, and the enforcement of the 
laws. ' ' 

The campaign which followed was the most important political 
contest in our history. The issues were clearly defined, and the 
voters knew precisely what they were called upon to decide. They 
were to vote either for the extension of slavery or for its restriction. 
The campaign was serious but not exciting. "Few national con- 
tests," says Schouler, writing of this election, "were ever fought 
where the discussion was more temperate and where enthusiasm ran 



CHRONOLOGY 



411 



less to folly. There was no Clay, no Jackson, no Tippecanoe to chap. 

furnish hurrah points; but on all hands the effort appeared to be 

to impress the great mass of doubtful voters by the force of argu- 
ment." Yet it was an intense campaign. The speeches made were 
estimated as being equal in number to all that were made in all the 
previous Presidential canvasses between 1789 and 1856. 

As was to be expected, the election returns revealed all too clearly ™ e e ctlon 
tne ugliness of the sectionalism which slavery had produced. Of ofLincol n 
the four parties in the field not one had shown itself to be national. 
The Republicans carried every State above the Mason-Dixon Line 
except three of the electoral votes of New Jersey, but were unsuc- 
cessful in every State south of that line. The Southern Democrats 
carried all the Southern States except Virginia, Tennessee, and 
Kentucky; these were carried by Bell. Missouri was carried by 
Douglas, who also received three of the electoral votes of New 
Jersey. Of the electoral votes Lincoln received 180 against 123 
cast for all the other candidates combined. The popular vote, 
however, was not so decisive. Of this Lincoln had 1,857,610; 
Douglas, 1,291,574; Breckenridge, 850,082 ; Bell, 646,124. 



NOTES AND CHRONOLOGY 

[This matter is indexed. It does not include dates given or subjects treated 
in the main body of the text.] 

1850 John C. Calhoun dies at Washington. March 31. 

The Nashville Convention. (This was called for the purpose of giving 
public expression on the slavery question. It was composed of 
delegates from all the Southern States. It disapproved of the 
Wilmot Proviso and of the Missouri Compromise. The delegates 
from Texas, Mississippi, and South Carolina advocated resistance 
to Federal authority, but more moderate counsel prevailed.) 

The Shadrach Case. (Frederic Wilkins, a Virginia slave, made his 
escape and found his way to Boston, where he obtained employment 
under the name of Shadrach. In time he was arrested and im- 
prisoned in the United States court-house pending trial. He was. 
liberated by a body of colored people and assisted to Canada. The 
case caused great excitement over the entire country.) 

The Presbyterians divide upon the question of slavery. 

1851 The principal room of the Library of Congress is destroyed by fire. 

About 35,000 books are lost. 
The Maine Prohibition Law is passed. 
1853 Crystal Palace exhibition is opened at New York, July 14. 
Arctic expedition sent in search of Sir John Franklin. 



412 THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 

1853 American expedition under Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrives in 

Japan and prevails upon that nation to ahandon its policy of 
seclusion. (The next year a treaty of commerce was concluded 
between the United States and Japan.) 

1854 Astor Library opened to the public in New York. 

The Black Warrior, an American merchant vessel, is seized at Havana 
by Cuban customs officials and its cargo declared confiscated. (The 
proceeding aroused a bitter feeling against Spain and immediate 
redress was demanded. Spain reluctantly made compensation for 
the seizure.) 

1857 George Peabody gives $300,000 to establish a literary and scientific 

institute at Baltimore. 

Mountain Meadows (Utah) Massacre. (About thirty miles southwest 
of Salt Lake City a body of about 120 non-Mormon immigrants 
were attacked by Indians and Mormons and all were massacred 
except seventeen children.) 

Panic of 1857. (The rapid development of the West in the fifties was 
accompanied by an overinvestment in land and excessive railroad 
construction, with the result that in 1857 the country suffered a 
panic. Many of the Western railroads went into bankruptcy and 
business failures numbered nearly 5,000. The panic, however, was 
of short duration. In 1857 a slight reduction was made in the 
tariff and some writers assert that the change was partly respon- 
sible for the financial crisis of that year.) 

1858 The monster steamer Great Eastern is launched at London. 
First overland mail for California leaves St. Louis. 

1859 Wise travels in a balloon from St. Louis to New York. 
Discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania. 

1860 Walker's filibustering expeditions are broken up and Walker is shot. 

Suggested Readings 

Republican Party: Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 258-278. 

Beginnings of the Republican party : Rhodes, Vol. II, pp. 45-49. 

Lecompton constitution : Rhodes, Vol. II, pp. 278-299. 

John Brown's Raid: McMaster, Vol. VIII, pp. 407-423. 

Lincoln-Douglas debates : Schouler, Vol. V, pp. 410-415. 

Seward : Frederick Bancroft, "W. H. Seward." 

Douglas: H. P. Willis, "Stephen A. Douglas." 

Lincoln : Ida Tarbell, "Life of Abraham Lincoln." 

The last struggle of slavery : Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 279-297. 

Presidential campaign of 1860 : Schouler, Vol. V, pp. 453-468. 

Election of 1860: J. T. Morse, "Abraham Lincoln." 



XXI 

PROGRESS IN THE FIFTIES 

BEFORE considering the significance of the election of Lincoln 
we shall do well to turn from things political and take a survey 
of the material and intellectual progress America was making at 
the time the Republican party was gathering strength for its first 
victory. At this place, therefore, we shall follow the course of our 
industrial and social development between 1850 and 1860. 

The Trunk Lines; the Merchant Marine 

In the fifties one of the most powerful agencies working for the 
development of the nation was the railroad. The railroads built in 
the thirties and forties * were small ones designed mainly as feeders 
to lakes or rivers or canals. But in the fifties the railroads became 
great institutions and the building of iron highways proceeded with 
astonishing rapidity. In 1850 the railroad mileage of the country 
was less than 10,000 ; ten years later it was more than 30,000. 

It was at this time that the trunk line appeared carrying freight 
and passengers from the seaboard westward to the Mississippi 
River. The New York Central, originally a little road connecting 
Albany and Schenectady, by 1850 had lengthened into a trunk line 
upon which one could travel from New York to Buffalo. By 1852 
a trunk line was running from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and by 
the next year the Baltimore & Ohio had climbed over the mountains 
to Wheeling. By 1855 swift iron horses were running over a smooth 
iron road that extended from New York to St. Louis. In the South 
by 1854 a road ran from Charleston to Chattanooga, and four years 
later a line connected Chattanooga and Memphis. In the meantime 
railroad construction in the Middle West was carried on with such 
energy that by 1860 the region embracing Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
and Michigan was becoming a network of railways, and considerable 
territory beyond the Mississippi had been brought into easy railroad 
communication with the cities of the Atlantic seaboard. 

'See p. 301. 

413 



The Trunk 
Lines 



414 



PROGRESS IN THE FIFTIES 



CHAP. 
XXI 



Donations 
to the 
Railroads 



In the construction of many of these lines capitalists were 
assisted by the largesses of government, the help coming in some 
instances from the State and in others from the nation. Large 
tracts of valuable land were given by the Federal Government to 
railroads in the West, while States and counties and towns also 
made liberal contributions of land and money. In 1850 the Illinois 
Central, which connected the lower South with Chicago, received a 




Transportation between the East and West after the building 
of the Trunk Lines 



gift of more than three million acres of the public domain. At this 
time a Federal land grant was given not directly to a company but 
to a State, on condition that the State donate it again to railroad 
companies as an aid to the building of new lines. The reasons 
urged in support of Federal land grants to railroads were : (1) that 
they would give the Government the right to transport the mails at 
its own price, and thus make the railways national post-roads; (2) 
that they would give the Government the right to transport mili- 
tary supplies free of charge; (3) that they would result in en- 
hancing the value of the remaining public lands in the vicinity of 



THE TRUNK LINES; THE MERCHANT MARINE 415 

the railways. Between 1850 and 1860 the Federal Government ^x^' 
donated altogether about 20,000,000 acres to the railroads. 



It was in the fifties that the subject of transcontinental railways £ s , a 

J Whitney 

was taken up m earnest. As early as 1844 Asa Whitney offered to 
build a railroad from Lake Michigan to the Pacific, provided Con- 
gress would give him at a nominal price a strip of territory sixty 
miles wide along the entire route. His scheme was to build the 
road with the proceeds of land sales. He went over the country 
delivering lectures, explaining his plans to conventions and legis- 
latures, and asking the people to lend him their support. While he 
failed to secure the desired aid, he did much to create a popular 
interest in projects for transcontinental lines. 

This interest was reflected in Congress, where between 1850 and Trans- 
1860 several bills were introduced providing for land grants to aid FtTiiroad a 
in the construction of railroads to the Pacific. None of these bills c emes 
passed, however, because there was always disagreement as to the 
route which the proposed route should take. The South wanted a 
southern route, and it was largely with the view of securing a 
suitable railway for a southern transcontinental line that the United 
States in 1854 acquired by treaty 54,000 square miles of Mexican 
territory known as the Gadsden Purchase. While sectional diffi- 
culties caused the postponement of this and all other schemes for 
transcontinental railroad building, the postponement could not be 
for long. The country beyond the Mississippi had no navigable 
streams of any consequence and the railroad was its only hope. 
1 ' For the West there was nothing between the creeping pace of the 
canvas-covered wagon and the railway express. ' ' 

Along with the development of railroad transportation there was The 
a corresponding growth in our merchant marine. During this Merchant 
decade the tonnage of American vessels engaged in ocean traffic 
increased by nearly 1,000,000. This prosperity was due to several 
causes. An abundance of timber enabled American shipwrights to 
produce vessels at low cost. The lower rates of the Walker Tariff - 
also helped to reduce the cost of building ships. The rush to Cali- 
fornia stimulated the construction of fast sailing vessels, so that 
the long journey around the Horn might be made in the least 
possible time. The famous American clippers, the fastest sailing 
vessels ever placed upon the ocean, were built in large numbers at 
this time. So superior were these clippers in speed that one of 

*See p. 331. 



Marine 



416 



PROGRESS IN THE FIFTIES 



CHAP. 
XXI 



them could make three trips to England in the time a British vessel 
was making two. Furthermore, ship subsidies at this period were 
granted with the view of building up our merchant marine. In 
1845 the Federal Government came to the aid of steam navigation 
by subsidizing a transatlantic line at the rate of $200,000 a year. 
The Collins Line from New York to Liverpool was receiving in 1850 
a subsidy of more than $850,000 a year. Thus a combination of 
favorable circumstances made the period the most glorious in the 
history of our merchant marine. Two thirds of our foreign ship- 
ments were made in American bottoms. "We have now," said 
A. H. Stephens in 1860, "an amount of shipping not only coast- 
wise, but to foreign countries, which puts us in the front rank of 
the nations of the world. ' ' 



The Westward Movement in the Fifties 

Railroad development and the expansion of the merchant marine 
worked together for the building up of the West. On the great 
steamships that were now plowing the ocean emigrants could come 
to America in greater comfort and at less expense than ever before. 
And they came in greater numbers than ever before. More for- 
eigners came to our shores in the ten years before 1860 than had 
come in the thirty years before 1850. Upon landing hundreds of 
thousands of those home-seekers started straight for the West on 
railroads that now reached the Mississippi and in some instances 
penetrated the wilderness beyond. 
Minnesota The most wonderful event in the entire history of Western 
development was the growth of Minnesota in the fifties. Before it 
was made a Territory Minnesota was a desolate and inaccessible 
region known as " No-Man 's-Land." In 1849 its population was 
probably less than 5000. "There was a trading-post at Wabasha, a 
stone house at the foot of Lake Pepin, a mission house at Red Wing 
and at Kaposia, and a trading-post at Mendota, but that was all." 
Minnesota was organized as a Territory in 1849, and at once its 
development began. Soon 28,000,000 acres of land which had 
belonged to the Sioux Indians were thrown open to the whites. In 
1854 Chicago and Rock Island were joined by a railroad, and two 
years later the Sault Ste. Marie Canal was opened. Minnesota 
was now easy to reach and emigrants came in throngs. By 1857 
the population of the Territory was thirty times as great as it had 




Photograph used by permission of Baldwin Locomotive Works 

An engine of to-day. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF RAILWAY TRANSPORTATION 



THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT IN THE FIFTIES 417 

been in 1849; and when the people of Minnesota asked to be ad- ™f p - 

mitted to the Union in 1858 their wish was granted. In 1861 the 

wild stretch of country west of this new State and extending to the 
Rocky Mountains was organized as the Territory of Dakota. 

The admission of Minnesota was a loss to the cause of slavery, for Kansas ; 
it came in as a free State. Soon another free State was to come in. 
Settlement steadily followed the courses of the Kansas and the 
Platte to their mountainous sources and steadily prepared Kansas 
and Nebraska for statehood. While the slavery contest was going 
on in Kansas emigrants both from the North and the South poured 
into the Territory, and by 1860 its population was more than 
100,000. It was now by law * entitled to admission. Accordingly 
in 1861 Kansas entered the Union with a clause in her constitution 
forbidding slavery. By this time Nebraska Territory had a popu- 
lation of more than 30,000, and its people felt that Nebraska also 
ought to be admitted. But Nebraska had to wait for some years. 

It was now that gold-hunters began to push out into the Rockies "Pike's 

°_ ox Peak or 

and lay the foundations of future States. In 1859 a rich gold-mine Bust " 
was discovered in the vicinity of Pike's Peak and forthwith there 
was a wild rush to the scene. "Pike's Peak or bust" became the 
slogan of adventurers in all parts of the country. Within a year 
nearly 60,000 gold-seekers visited the newly discovered mines. 
Towns like Denver, Boulder, and Pueblo were built so rapidly that 
they seemed to rise out of the ground overnight. Many of the 
fortune-seekers returned "busted," but many remained and the 
need for some kind of government was urgent. There was a call 
for a convention to meet in Denver in June, 1859, for the purpose 
of framing a constitution for a new State. "Shall it be," it was 
asked in the address, "the government of the knife and the revolver, 
or shall we unite in forming here in our golden country, among the 
ravines and gulches of the Rocky Mountains, and the fertile valleys 
of the Arkansas and the Platte, a new and independent State?" 
The movement for immediate statehood proved to be immature and 
impracticable, but by December, 1859, the miners had organized 
the ' ' Territory of Jefferson ' ' and were passing laws for the govern- 
ment of the new community. In 1861 Congress stepped in and 
organized the region under the name of the Territory of Colorado, 
and the "Territory of Jefferson" passed out of existence. Three 
days after a government was provided for Colorado another mining 
*See p. 403. 



418 PROGRESS IN THE FIFTIES 

£*^ p - community was organized as the Territory of Nevada. The devel- 

opment of this Territory was due almost wholly to the discovery of 

the great Comstock silver-mine, from which, first and last, more than 
six hundred million dollars' worth of silver was taken from one 
rock a mile in length. 

Oregon rpj^ j ni p U i se f th e westward movement was felt clear across the 

continent. Emigrants continued to pursue the long and tiresome 
journey to the coast. Oregon was benefited by the westward 
moving tide. The prosperity of this Territory was threatened for 
a while by the rush to California during the days of the gold-fever, 
when many settlers left the Willamette Valley to seek their fortunes 
in the Sacramento country. But soon the tide turned again to 
Oregon, and in 1859 this Territory was made a State. In 1853 a 
part of Oregon was set off and organized as Washington Territory. 

veiopmen? e Thus the westward movement in the fifties resulted in the settle- 
ment and organization of a vast amount of territory. Within the 
period 1850-61 California, Minnesota, Oregon, and Kansas at- 
tained statehood, while Utah, New Mexico, Washington, Nebraska, 
Dakota, Nevada, and Colorado were organized as Territories. But 
this does not tell the whole story. The full significance of the 
westward movement in the fifties is to be seen not in the organiza- 
tion and settlement of new areas, but in the development of the 
Western States which were already formed. The population of the 
United States in 1850 was 23,191,876 ; in 1860, it was 31,443,321. 
Of the increase the Western States alone, not including Missouri, 
could claim more than 4,000,000 — about as much as the East and 
the South together could claim. A startling feature of the census 
of 1860 was the enormous gains made by the new States of the 
Northwest. The population of Michigan in the fifties increased 
from 397,000 to 750,000 ; that of Wisconsin from 305,000 to 775,- 
000; that of Iowa from 192,000 to 675,000. Illinois during the 
period more than doubled its population. 

The center of population moved westward faster in the fifties 
than in any other decade of our history. In 1800 the star marking 
the center of population was about eighteen miles west of Balti- 
more; by 1840 it had crossed the Alleghanies; in 1850 it had 
reached Parkersburg (now in West Virginia) ; and in 1860 it was 
half-way across the State of Ohio. 



COMMERCIAL AND- INDUSTRIAL GROWTH 



419 



Commercial and Industrial Growth 



chap. 

XXI 



While the trunk lines in the fifties were doing so much to deter- The 
mine the movement of population they were at the same time and the 
doing much to direct the movements of trade. Before they were Farmers 
built Western farmers were in a large measure dependent upon 
the Mississippi and its tributaries for the transportation of their 
grain and, as we have seen, 1 they looked chiefly to the South as the 
natural market for their products. But the trunk lines were like 
so many navigable rivers flowing direct from the West to the 
Atlantic seaboard. On the new channels of trade the products of 
Western farms could be borne to the populous centers of the East ; 
and from the Eastern ports Western grain could easily reach the 
ports of foreign countries. 




Center of Population 

Happily there was now an unusual foreign demand for the 
products of American farms. Europe was running low in its food 
supply. Consumption had overtaken production, and in some of 
the countries had got beyond it, so that Europe was compelled to 
look to America for its breadstuffs. Thanks, then, to the trunk 
lines and to the new European demand, our foreign trade in grain 
shipments assumed in the fifties an importance never before known. 
In the ten years before 1853 our exports of grain were valued at 
less than $200,000,000 ; in the ten years after that date they were 
valued at more than $500,000,000. This increase in grain ship- 
ments soon raised our foreign commerce to more than double its 
former volume. By 1860 we were selling abroad about as much 
as we were buying, and as a commercial nation we were standing 
on our own feet. 

That Europe should turn to America for foodstuffs was a thing g^Jgt 
to be expected, for agriculture was our chief pursuit, as it had 

1 See p. 377. 



420 PROGRESS IN THE FIFTIES 

chap. always been. Land was so plentiful that rent had scarcely any 

existence, the farmer being in almost every case the owner of the 

land which he tilled. It was the day of the small landholder; the 
average size of a farm was about 200 acres. The science of agri- 
culture was being extended and the art of tilling the soil was being 
improved. In several States, notably in Michigan, Maryland, and 
Pennsylvania, well-equipped agricultural colleges were giving sound 
instruction in the art of tilling the soil. Farmers, as a rule, were 
well-to-do. They were deserting their log cabins and building 
themselves frame houses. They were buying the manufactured 
goods of the East and even the finer goods of Europe. Pianos 
made in Germany and silks woven in France were finding their way 
to the farm-houses of the Middle West. Farms and farm property 
were doubling in value, while the products of the field were increas- 
ing in proportion. Great quantities of tobacco, wheat, and corn 
were being raised, but cotton was still the most important of all 
the products of the farm. In 1860 the United States raised seven 
eighths of all the cotton in the world, 
invention Although agriculture was in the lead, manufacturing was not far 

behind; for the development of American manufactures at this 
time was almost startling. The factory system was now in full 
swing and the articles of manufacture were increasing in number 
and variety. Foremost among the aids to this progress was in- 
vention. How much was due to the inventor may be learned from 
the records of the patent-office. In 1850 the number of patents 
issued was about 6000; in 1860 more than 23,000. While these 
patents related to every field of human endeavor, most of them 
covered new devices for applying machinery to industrial processes. 
There were patents for improved looms, for air heating stoves, 
cooking-stoves, improved sewing-machines, printing-presses, boot 
and shoe machinery, and for hundreds of things which add to the 
comfort and convenience of daily life and which tend to raise the 
standard of living. 

Great numbers of patents related to transportation and to the 
transmission of human intelligence. The sleeping-car had ap- 
peared, and the locomotive had grown to be more powerful and 
efficient. The telegraph was beginning to reveal its wonderful 
possibilities. By 1860 all the principal places in the country en- 
joyed telegraphic communication. By 1861 there was a telegraph 
line extending across the continent connecting New York and San 



carriers 



THE GROWTH OF CITIES 421 

Francisco. Communication with the Old World was also in sight. £^f p - 

In 1858 England and America were joined by cable, and President 

Buchanan and Queen Victoria were exchanging congratulations 
over electric wires. This first transatlantic cable proved to be de- 
fective and soon ceased to work ; the project, however, was carried 
forward by Cyrus W. Field with great perseverance and energy, cymsw. 
and by 1866 cable communication between the Old World and the Field 
New was permanently established. 

The stimulus given to commerce and industry by the telegraph Postage- 
stamps ; 
was being supplemented by another useful invention — the adhesive Letter- 
postage-stamp. Postage-stamps made their appearance in England 
about 1840. At this time in the United States postmasters and 
private mail delivery companies were printing stamps and selling 
them to be used by their patrons to indicate the prepayment of 
postage. In 1847 the adhesive stamp was adopted by Congress, 
and the business of the printing and selling of the stamps was made 
a government monopoly. Letter postage in 1851 was reduced from 
five cents a half-ounce to three cents for distances less than 3000 
miles. For distances greater than 3000 miles the rate was six 
cents. The reduction in postage resulted in a slight deficit in 
postal revenues but it increased enormously the volume of mail. 
In the cities the mail soon became so heavy that it was impracticable 
to deliver it all to people who called at the post-office. For some 
years private carriers were utilized in the larger cities and were 
paid one or two cents for each letter delivered. Private carriers 
also collected mail and took it to the post-office. But in 1858 the 
first street letter box for collection purposes was put up in New 
York City. Five years later the free delivery of mail was under- 
taken by the Government, and in all our large cities letter-carriers 
were bringing the mail to the door. 

The Growth of Cities 

Growth in commerce and industry meant — as it always means — 
growth in urban population. We were still an agricultural nation 
but the proportion of city dwellers was increasing. In 1850 about 
12 per cent of the population lived in cities of 8000 inhabitants and 
over; in 1860 about 16 per cent. At the beginning of the decade 
the total urba.. population was considerably less than 3,000,000; 
at the end it was more than 5,000,00' 



422 



PROGRESS IN THE FIFTIES 



CHAP. 
XXI 



The Rural 
South 



Urban De- 
velopment 
in the 
North 



Chicago and 
St. Louis 



The South did not share in this gain. Here the civilization v/as 
still rural in the fullest sense of the word. The only Southern 
cities with a population of more than 30,000 were Richmond and 
New Orleans. "The census of 1860 could find only fifteen towns 
in Alabama worth mentioning and of these nine had less than a 
thousand inhabitants, dwindling to as few as 117. But two towns 
in Arkansas were in degree above the merest villages, one having 
only eighty people. . . . Louisiana had but three towns of over 
two thousand population besides New Orleans and Baton Rouge. 
All but five of the towns enumerated in Mississippi were small vil- 
lages. It was the same in North and South Carolina, the latter 
State having but three towns besides Charleston of over one thou- 
sand population. Virginia was a State of petty villages." 1 

In the North manufacturing and commerce flourished and here 
people were crowding into cities. New York and Brooklyn, al- 
though not yet legally cemented by municipal ties, nevertheless 
constituted in 1860 a single urban community numbering more 
than 1,000,000 inhabitants. In 1850 the combined population of 
the two places was only about 600,000. The growth of the Ameri- 
can metropolis during the decade, therefore, was enormous. Phila- 
delphia, now the "Manchester of America," added within the 
period more than 200,000 to her population, and by 1860 had passed 
the half-million mark. Baltimore had passed the 200,000 mark 
and Boston was approaching it. Besides these five great centers 
there were now in the North scores of other places that were flour- 
ishing by reason of their growing manufactures and were well 
started on the road to permanent and prosperous cityhood. In 
New England there were Providence, Worcester, Lowell, and New 
Haven; in the Middle States there were Newark, Jersey City, Wil- 
mington, Reading, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Troy, Rochester, and Syra- 
cuse. Each of these had a population of more than 20,000 and 
three — Providence, Newark, and Buffalo — had populations of more 
than 50,000. 

Great cities were also rising in the West. The growth of St. 
Louis and Chicago during the period was amazing. In 1840 St. 
Louis was a town of 16,000; in 1850 its population was 75,000; in 
1860 it contained 160,000 inhabitants and had virtually overtaken 
Cincinnati. In the fifties it passed the "Queen City," and for a 
brief period it was the metropolis of the West. But it could not 
1 F. B. Chadwick, "Causes of the Civil War" ; p. 31. 



EVERY-DAY LIFE 423 

maintain its leadership against its rival on Lake Michigan. Chi- chap. 

cage- was now connected by railroads that ran from the trans- 

Mississippi region to places on the Atlantic seaboard; it was ship- 
ping large quantities of wheat to the East by way of the Great 
Lakes; it was profiting greatly by the presence of McCormick's 
great factory. 1 All these things worked together for the upbuilding 
of the ' ' Windy City, ' ' with the result that by 1860 it was virtually 
holding first rank among the cities west of the Alleghanies, and as 
an example of rapid urban development it was the wonder of the 
world. 

Dozens of other places in the West were also flourishing, their ^ter^in 
prosperity being due chiefly to their manufacturing interests. For $g S Middle 
as agriculture made its way westward manufacturing followed in 
its wake. In 1850 the star marking the center of manufacturing 
in the United States was near Harrisburg; ten years later it had 
nearly reached Pittsburgh. As the West grew more populous it 
could easily support its own factories. Its growing towns could 
supply the necessary capital and labor and could at the same time 
consume a portion of its manufactured articles. Hence it was that 
in the fifties industrial centers like Louisville, Detroit, Milwaukee, 
Indianapolis, Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus, Toledo, and Minne- 
apolis were increasing in population so fast that the Middle West 
could no longer be regarded as a wholly rural region. 

Every-day Life 
The railroad and the telegraph and the other great inventions of Material 

ASpGCtS 

the day were bringing in the modern world, and the material aspects 
of every-day life were taking on the complexion they are wearing 
at the present time. In the great industrial centers there was 
din and rattle and hustling and luxury and poverty. Streets were 
paved and there were sidewalks for pedestrians. Cities were res- 
cued from darkness by the gas-light, which was now causing the old 
wick-lamp to be laid aside. Houses were heated by stoves and 
hot-air furnaces. Matches had been invented and were used in 
every household. The high prices of land in the large cities was 
making it necessary to run buildings up to a considerable height, 
and there were houses of five and six and even seven stories. The 
elevator was coming into use. The Fifth Avenue Hotel in New 
1 See p. 341. 



424 



PROGRESS IN THE FIFTIES 



CHAP. 
XXI 



Education 
Becoming 
Popular 



York became famous on account of a passenger elevator which it 
installed in 1860. The age of steam had fully arrived ; everywhere 
the steam-engine was used as a means of mechanical propulsion of 
almost every description. In the field of transportation there was 
feverish exertion to secure greater speed, comfort, and efficiency. 
In 1859 George M. Pullman began to remodel old coaches into 
sleeping-cars, and four years later he was building the now famous 
Pullman palace-cars. Express companies were carrying packages, 
bundles, and money between the great cities. For street travel 
omnibuses were common, and in the largest places there were street- 
cars drawn by horses. In the stores and in the salesrooms could 
be seen the results of new processes and new inventions. Articles 
of every-day use were abundant. Ready-made clothing, thanks to 
Elias Howe, was piled high on the counters. Prices were reason- 
able even if the lower levels of wages and income are considered. 
If the housewife wanted a sewing-machine for her home she could 
buy one for twenty-five dollars. The cost of a carpet-sweeper was 
only two dollars. A pair of women's shoes of the finest calf was 
sold for $2.75. Books were cheaper than they are to-day. A 
"Webster's Unabridged Dictionary," 1500 illustrations and 1750 
pages, could be bought for $6.50. 

Education was keeping pace with the material progress of the 
day. The public school was becoming a feature of every-day life. 
The educational movement begun in the early part of the century x 
acquired greater force year by year, and by 1860 in most of the 
States provision had been made for elementary schools that should 
be free to all white children. And public instruction was being 
carried far beyond the elementary school, for high schools, normal 
schools, and universities were being included in the educational 
system of a number of States. By 1860 there were altogether in 
the United States about one hundred public schools of a grade that 
would entitle them to be called high schools. Normal schools for 
the training of teachers were being maintained by State authority 
in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Michigan, Illinois, and 
Wisconsin. In Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, Mis- 
souri, Wisconsin, Virginia, and South Carolina, and in Utah Terri- 
tory, the educational system was crowned by a State university. 
The University of Iowa admitted women as well as men, but in 
the other States women were not admitted until a later day. But 

1 See p. 308. 



EVERY-DAY LIFE 425 

even now women were beginning to come into their own in respect £5 AP - 

to education. Throughout the country there were scattered thirty 

institutions of learning which called themselves colleges for women, 
although they hardly deserved that name. 

Cheap books and popular education were good soil for literature, ™* o, olden 
and the literary plant flourished. Indeed the decade may properly L£ttlrs an 
be called the Golden Age of American letters. Then if ever was 
American genius refulgent. The writers who began publishing in 
the thirties were now in their prime, and their pens were busy 
producing the great classics of which America is proud. It was 
in the fifties that Longfellow, the poet of the common people, pub- 
lished his "Hiawatha" and "Miles Standish"; that J. R. Lowell 
did his best work in prose while contributing to the pages of ' ' The 
Atlantic Monthly"; and that William Cullen Bryant and John 
G. Whittier, in addition to the poetry which they directed against 
slavery, published masterpieces of verse which delighted their coun- 
trymen and which were free from partisan or sectional bias. 
"Hawthorne reached the summit of his genius in 'The Scarlet 
Letter' at one end of the decade and 'The Marble Faun' at the 
other." "The Scarlet Letter" was at once reprinted in England, 
where it was received with great enthusiasm and where the sneer 
of Sydney Smith no longer carried force. In 1857 Oliver Wendell 
Holmes began to contribute to "The Atlantic Monthly" a series 
of kindly human and buoyant articles under the title "The Auto- 
crat of the Breakfast Table." These were quickly followed by a 
series fully as delightful, "The Professor at the Breakfast Table." 
Ralph Waldo Emerson was giving the world some of the finest of 
those incomparable essays which "set forth a constant and enthu- 
siastic belief in the value of individuality and the need of every 
man 's planting himself in the ground of his own consciousness and 
natural affections." So rich and fruitful, in fact, were the fifties 
in works of genius that it can be truly said the literary products 
of the decade surpassed anything that had gone before or that has 
followed after. 

But books were not the chief source of pabulum for the popular Newspapers 
mind. The most powerful agency working for the diffusion of 
knowledge and for forming public opinion was the newspaper; for 
the great popular daily had arrived. A number of things had 
contributed to its growth. In 1849 the Associated Press began to 
gather news and furnish it to any newspaper that was affiliated 



426 PROGRESS IN THE FIFTIES 

™f p ' with the organization ; about the same time the telegraph began to 
annihilate both distance and time in the carrying of news; but, 
more important perhaps than anything else, the revolving press of 
Hoe — invented in 1846 — was turning off newspapers in great num- 
bers with incredible rapidity. The result of this progress was a 
newspaper about as good and as ch'ap as the one we have to-day. 
The subscription price of the New York daily "Tribune" was six 
dollars a year. The price of the widely circulated weekly edition 
was two dollars. In their editorial features the newspapers of 1860 
were vastly more influential than they are at the present time. 
This was because their editors were responsible personalities who 
felt that their function was to marshal public opinion in the interest 

Editors °f truth and truth alone. In that day of great editors— a day that 
seems to have vanished and passed — one of the greatest was James 
Gordon Bennett, who still directed the activities of ' ' The New York 
Herald. ' ' * Another outstanding figure was Samuel Bowles of ' ' The 
Springfield Republican," a journal that from the date of its foun- 
dation even to this very day — a span of nearly three fourths of a 
century — has maintained a high standard of editorial excellence. 
Henry Jarvis Raymond of "The New York Times" also wielded a 
pen of great power, and his paper was a most effective organ of 
opinion. But the most influential of the editors was Horace 
Greeley, whose paper, the "New York Tribune," now circulated 
widely not only in the East but in the Middle West also. Greeley 
wrote with such force and conviction that his readers came to re- 
gard the "Tribune" a kind of political Bible. Greeley and Ray- 
mond and Bowles all opposed the extension of slavery, and their 
editorials did much to bring success to the Republican ticket in 
1860. 

Suggested Readings 

Domestic trade ; foreign trade : Van Metre, pp. 356-373. 

Railroad building in the fifties : Bogart, pp. 230-235. 

Opening of the Crystal Palace : Rhodes, Vol. I, pp. 414-416. 

Panic of 1857: Dewey, pp. 259-264; also Schouler, Vol. V, pp. 386-389. 

Educational development : Dexter, pp. 155-203. 

Growth of the industrial city : Bogart, pp. 256-258. 

Morse's first telegraph line : McMaster, Vol. VII, pp. 125-130. 

Trade-unions in the fifties: Commons, Vol. I, pp. 575-623. 

Geographical distribution of railroads: Semple, pp. 367-396. 

Poets and novelists : Trent, pp. 172-197, 

1 See p. 312. 



XXlI 

THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 

AT the time the people of the United States were enjoying the. 
prosperity described in the last chapter the slavery question 
was hovering over the country like a dreadful cloud. Immediately 
after the election of Lincoln the cloud quickly grew darker. With- 
in a few weeks after his inauguration eleven Southern States had 
withdrawn from the Union and the North and South were girding 
themselves for war. 

Secession; Efforts at Compromise 

The election of Lincoln meant that the scepter of power was The south 
presently to be wrested from the hands of the South. After March Power 
4, 1861, both branches of Congress, the President, and all adminis- 
trative officers of the Federal Government would be at the service 
of a political party that was organized for the express purpose of 
blocking the policy of the South and thwarting her desires in respect 
to a matter which involved the very existence of her social and 
economic structure. This was a new and startling situation she 
was called upon to face. For many years she had been holding her 
own against the North by balancing slave States against free States 
in the Senate. But in the development of the country the scales 
had not been kept even. After the admission of Texas in 1845, 
not a single slave State had entered the Union, whereas between. 
1845 and 1860 Iowa, Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, and Oregon 
had all come in as free States. The power of the South had thus 
been gradually slipping away before 1860; with the election of 
Lincoln and a Republican Congress it was gone entirely. 

This loss of power meant secession. Long before the election The 

Yawning 

oi Lincoln leaders in the South were contemplating separation from chasm 
the Union. Calhoun preferred secession to the Compromise of 
1850. In 1856, when in the opinion of ex-President Fillmore the 
country was on the brink of a volcano, Senator Toombs of Georgia 
Avrote: "The election of Fremont would be the end of the Union 

427 



428 THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 



CHAP. 
XXII 



South 
Carolina 
Leads the 
Secession 
Movement 



and ought to be. The object of Fremont's friends is the conquest 
of the South. I am content that they shall own us when they con- 
quer us, but not before." "I consider," wrote Buchanan privately 
during the campaign of 1856, "that all incidental questions are 
comparatively of little importance in the presidential question when 
compared with the grand and appalling issue of union or disunion." 
The election of Buchanan did nothing to close the yawning chasm. 
On the contrary, during his administration the breach widened. 
The failure of the Lecompton constitution, John Brown's raid, the 
publication of Helper's book, the split in the Democratic convention 
at Charleston, all worked upon the minds of the Southern people 
with cumulative effect to convince them that their only course was 
"immediate, absolute, eternal separation." Sentiment being already 
ripe for secession, it was easy for the South when she found herself 
stripped of power to take the fateful step. Indeed it can be said 
with much truth that the election of Lincoln acted as a kind of 
signal to secede ; for the great body of Southern leaders had resolved 
to leave the Union the moment the scales tipped against the South. 

The first movements of secession were prompt, swift, and decisive. 
South Carolina rushed headlong into the rash adventure. She 
was looking forward to the withdrawal from the Union before 
election day and on the day after the election the palmetto flag was 
raised in Charleston. On December 20, 1860, a convention of dele- 
gates repealed the ordinance whereby the Constitution of the 
United States was ratified by South Carolina in 1788 and declared 
that the Union existing between that State and other States under 
the name of the United States of America was dissolved. The rea- 
sons given for this secession were that South Carolina had entered 
into the Union as by a compact with the other States and that the 
compact had been broken by the other States; that the personal- 
liberty laws x were destructive of the slaveholders ' rights under the 
Constitution ; that the non-slaveholding States had elected to the 
Presidency a man whose opinions and purposes were hostile to 
slavery; that after March 4, 1861, the Federal Government would 
be the enemy of the slaveholding States, the guarantee of the Con- 
stitution would no longer exist, and the equal right of the States 
would be lost. South Carolina issued an address to the other slave- 
holding States appealing to them to join in forming a Confederacy, 

1 See p. 394. 



SECESSION; EFFORTS AT COMPROMISE 429 

and by February 1 Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisi- chap. 
ana, and Texas had responded to the appeal and had left the Union. - 

Of course the seceding States felt that they were acting in ac- why the 
cordance with the principles of right and good reason. Of the seceded 
right to secede there was in the mind of the average Southern man 
not a scintilla of doubt. The underlying reason for the separation 
was the one urged by South Carolina : the South felt that the new 
rulers were planning to make an onslaught upon slavery that would 
deprive them of their constitutional rights. "We cannot close our 
eyes to the fact," said Douglas in the Senate in January, 1861, 
"that the Southern people have received the result of that election 
[the election of 1860] as furnishing conclusive evidence that the 
dominant party of the North, which is soon to take possession of 
the Federal Government, are determined to invade and destroy 
their constitutional rights. Believing that their domestic institu- 
tions, their hearthstones, and their family altars are all to be 
assailed, at least by indirect means, and that the Federal Govern- 
ment is to be used for the inauguration of a line of policy which 
shall have for its object the ultimate extinction of slavery in all 
the States — old as well as new, South as well as North — the South- 
ern people are prepared to rush wildly, madly, as I think, into 
revolution, disunion, war — and defy the consequences. ' ' 

No sooner had the seceding States withdrawn from the old Union The , J 

D Confederate 

than they hurried forward to form a new one. Delegates from six states of 

u ° America 

of the States that had passed secession ordinances assembled on 
February 4 at Montgomery, Alabama, to draw up a constitution 
for the government of a new republic, which was to be known as 
the Confederate States of America. Of this convention Alexander 
H. Stephens, who was himself a delegate, wrote : "Upon the whole 
the congress, taken all in all, is the ablest, soberest, most intelligent, 
and conservative body I was ever in. . . . Nobody looking on would 
ever take this congress for a set of revolutionists." The constitu- 
tion adopted for the Confederate States asserted in the plainest 
terms the doctrine of State sovereignty and explicitly and fully 
recognized slavery as a lawful institution. "The cornerstone of 
our new government rests," said Stephens, "upon the great truth 
that the negro is not equal to the white man ; that slavery — subordi- 
nation to the superior race — is his natural and normal condition. 
. . . The negro, by nature, or by the curse against Canaan, is fitted 



430 THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 



CHAP. 
XXII 



Jefferson 
Davis 



Preparing 
for the 
Exigencies 
of War 



for that condition which he occupies in our system." The main 
body of the Confederate constitution was almost identical with 
that of the Constitution of the United States. There were, however, 
some important differences in the two documents. The constitution 
of the Confederacy forbade the importation of slaves from foreign 
countries ; it gave the President a term of six years, but made him 
ineligible for reelection; it provided that Congress could permit 
heads of departments to have seats upon the floor of either house, 
with the privilege of discussing any measure affecting their several 
departments; it forbade the enactment of a tariff with protective 
features. 

Having finished with the constitution the seceders at once set up 
a temporary government for the Confederate States. Jefferson 
Davis was chosen as president and A. H. Stephens as vice-president. 
Davis, who had succeeded Calhoun as the leader and spokesman of 
the South, was a man of sterling character and sincere purpose. 
When he withdrew from the United States Senate he made an im- 
pressive speech giving his reason for his course of action. "Your 
platform, ' ' he said to the Republicans, ' ' on which you elected your 
candidate denies us equality. Your voters refuse to recognize our 
domestic institutions which preexisted the formation of the Union, 
our property which was guarded by the Constitution. You refuse 
us that equality without which we should be degraded if we re- 
mained in the Union. You elect a candidate upon the basis of 
sectional hostility." The States, he said, were their own masters 
when they came into the Union and they did not lose this inde- 
pendence upon entering into the Federal compact. Since this was 
so, a State was free to remain in the Union or withdraw from it. 
His State had decided to leave the Union, and he was going out 
with it, not because he loved the Union less, but because he loved 
Mississippi more. And this was the reasoning that was leading 
prominent men all over the South to sever their relations with the 
Federal Government : they left the Union because they thought 
their first duty was to their State. 

On February 14 Davis was inaugurated at Montgomery, the tem- 
porary capital of the Confederacy. In his inaugural address he 
said: "Doubly justified by the abstinence on our part and by 
wanton aggression on the part of others, there can be no cause to 
doubt that the courage and patriotism of the people of the Con- 
federate States will be found equal to any measure of defense which 



SECESSION; EFFORTS AT COMPROMISE 431 

honor and security may require. ' ' This was as much as to say that °hap. 

if there was any fighting to be done the South would give a good 

account of herself. It was of ominous significance that the new 
Government was especially active in preparing for the exigencies 
of war. The new Congress resolved that "immediate steps should 
be taken to obtain possession of Forts Sumter and Pickens . . . 
either by negotiation or force," and authorized Davis to carry the 
resolution into effect. Accordingly, on February 22, Davis, acting 
in the name of the Confederate Government, took charge of mili- 
tary operations in Charleston Harbor. 

What was the Federal Government doing in the meanwhile ? It p ^ orous 
was frittering away time and pursuing a do-nothing policy. 
Buchanan seemed incapable of meeting the 'crisis with energy and 
decision. In his message to Congress in December, 1860, he charac- 
terized the secession movement as revolutionary, but it was a 
revolution that would have to run its course, for the Federal Gov- 
ernment was powerless to intervene with force and bring a seceding 
State back into the Union. No State had a right to secede, but if 
one did secede, it must be allowed to go ; for in no arm of the 
Government was there constitutional power "to coerce a State into 
submission which is attempting to withdraw or has actually with- 
drawn. " "The message," said Seward in disgust, "shows conclu- 
sively that it is the duty of the President to execute the laws — 
unless somebody opposes him; and that no State has a right to go 
out of the Union — unless it wants to." 

While Buchanan was pursuing a halting, timorous policy, the The 
secessionists were acting with vigor. By January 1, 1861, South the west 
Carolina actually took possession of all the forts in Charleston 
Harbor except Fort Sumter, which was held by Union troops com- 
manded by Major Robert Anderson. As the fort was in need of 
provisions, a Federal supply ship, the Star of the West, was sent 
to its relief, but when the vessel attempted to enter the Charleston 
Harbor on January 3 she was fired upon by the secessionists and 
compelled to turn back. So lacking in firmness was the adminis- 
tration that effectual aid could not be given to a Federal fort that 
was in need of food ! But it is easy to condemn Buchanan too 
severely for this inactivity. He had on his hands a Congress that 
was largely under the influence of Southern leaders, and if he had 
undertaken to nip secession in the bud by resorting to Jacksonian 
methods he would doubtless have been blocked by the law-making 



432 THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 



CHAP. 
XXII 



The Senti- 
ment for 
Compro- 
mise 



The 

Keeling of 
Srotherhood 



branch. If the country was to see the use of force in the South 
it would have to wait until March, when the Republicans would 
assume control. 

And what were the people of the North doing while the South 
was going forward with a movement that was tearing the Union 
into pieces? For several months the North was in a state of con- 
sternation and could not make up its mind what to do. It of course 
did not countenance secession, for it loved the Union above all 
things, but it was not ready for coercion. There could be detected, 
however, one dominant note which public opinion was sounding 
throughout all the North, and that was the note of compromise. 
Time and time again this "white virtue" — as Clay had called it — 
had saved the Union; and it was the sentiment of the Northern 
States, and of the border States also to a great extent, that a policy 
of give and take could prevent the dreadful rupture. Many were 
the schemes of compromise that were brought forward, but the 
one offered by Senator Crittenden of Kentucky received the widest 
approval. Crittenden proposed to amend the Constitution in a 
way that would prohibit slavery north of Parallel 36° 30' and per- 
mit it south of that line. The proposed compromise if adopted 
would have taken from the slaveholder his rights under the Dred 
Scott decision in so far as new States north of the Missouri Com- 
promise line were concerned, but would have fortified him for all 
time in his rights south of that line. 

Crittenden's plan was popular almost everywhere except in the 
cotton States. Petitions in its favor poured in from all parts of 
the North and from the border States. But politicians in Congress 
were not in a mood for compromise. Slavery had become a moral 
question, and many Republican leaders had come to look on slave- 
holding as a sin and upon slaveholders as sinners. Such men were 
out-and-out abolitionists and would have nothing to do with com- 
promise. Of course Southern leaders, who saw no wrong whatever 
in slavery, resented an attitude which put them in the position of 
moral outcasts. The result was that in Congress there was no 
longer a genuine feeling of brotherhood between the two sections. 
In the corridors of the Capitol, as men of the North and men of 
the South passed, they looked into each other's eyes with hatred. 
"So far as I know," said a senator of the United States in 1860, 
"and as I believe, every man in both houses [of Congress] is armed 
with a revolver and a bowie-knife. ' ' Such men were thinking more 




Statue by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in Lincoln Park, Chicago 



SECESSION; EFFORTS AT COMPROMISE 433 

about blows than they were about compromise. The Senate com- ^hap. 

mittee which was to bring out Crittenden's plan failed to agree, 

so that the proposed amendment was not permitted to go to the 
States for ratification. 

After the failure of the committee to agree Crittenden made an A , 

Keferendurr 

earnest and almost pathetic effort to get his compromise before the Proposed 
country by another route. He asked that "provision be made by 
law, without delay, for taking the sense of the people and sub- 
mitting to their vote." But the mantle of Clay had not fallen on 
this son of Kentucky. Crittenden was again thwarted in his plans; 
his compromise proposal was not allowed to go to the people. Had 
it been submitted to a popular referendum it would probably 
have been accepted. "There can be no doubt," said a Richmond 
paper in January, 1861, "that Crittenden's plan of adjustment, if 
submitted to a direct vote of the people, would be adopted by such 
a vote as never was polled in this country. ' ' 

However conciliatory may have been the temper of the electorate, bourse 16 
the attitude of leaders made a middle course impossible. "I am ^^"ibfe 
daily becoming more confirmed," wrote A. H. Stephens as early 
as November, 1860, "that all efforts to save the Union will be un- 
availing. The truth -is our leaders and public men, who have 
taken hold of this question, do not desire to continue it on any 
terms. They do not wish any redress of wrongs; they are dis- 
unionists per se." As early as January, 1861, Davis was ready to 
leave the Union with no thoughts of returning. He was willing 
to do anything to avert civil war, but he was bent on going out. 
After the election of Lincoln not only the fire-eaters of the South 
but her solid moderate men as well were convinced that the only 
settlement possible was separation. Nor were Northern leaders as 
a rule animated by a spirit of conciliation. Seward indeed was 
willing to do something to save "freedom and his country," but 
he felt that he stood alone. "I am the only hopeful, calm, con- 
ciliatory person here," he wrote to his wife in December, 1860, 
while in the Senate. And little in the way of compromise could be 
expected from Lincoln himself. In a letter to Seward in February 
the President-elect wrote: "I say now, however, as I have all the 
while said, that on the territorial question — that is the question of 
extending slavery under the national auspices — I am inflexible. I 
am for no compromise which assists or permits the extension of 
the institution on soil owned by the nation." In taking this stand 



CHAP. 
XXII 



434 THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 

Lincoln was upholding the main plank in the platform of the party 
which elected him. He was also closing the door of hope on the 
Crittenden Compromise, the only conciliatory proposition that had 
ever obtained much popular support. When this ill-fated measure 
was resuscitated in the Senate on March 2, two days before the 
Congress was to expire, it provoked a debate which continued into 
the small hours of March 3 ; but, failing to secure Republican sup- 
port, it was voted down. With that vote the last faint hope of 
compromise perished. The seceding States must now be allowed 
to depart in peace or there must be war. The event was in the 
hands of the man who in a few hours would take his place at the 
head of the Government. 

The Call to Arms 

An In his inaugural Lincoln devoted his remarks entirely to the 

state Paper situation which existed in the South. The address, "an immortal 
state paper which stands among the glories of Anglo-Saxon litera- 
ture and thought," was a full, calm, forthright discussion of the 
question raised by the seceding States and a plain announcement 
of the policy of the incoming administration. To understand clearly 
the issues that were at stake at this critical moment the inaugural 
must be read in its entirety. The new President said : 

Fellow-citizens of the United States: 

In compliance with a custom as old as the Government itself, I 
appear before you to address you briefly and to take in your pres- 
ence the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States 
to be taken by the President "before he enters on the execution of 
his office." 

I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those 
matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety 
or excitement. 

Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern 
States that by the accession of a Republican administration their 
property and their peace and personal security are to be endan- 
gered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such appre- 
hension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all 
the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in 
nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. 
I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that — 

"I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the 



THE CALL TO ARMS 435 

institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have c ,hap. 
no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. ' ' — 

Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge 
that I had made this and many similar declarations and had never 
recanted them ; and more than this, they placed in the platform for 
my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear 
and emphatic resolution which I now read : 

"Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the 
States, and especially the right of each State to order and control 
its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment ex- 
clusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfec- 
tion and endurance of our political fabric depend ; and we denounce 
the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or 
Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of 
crimes." 

I now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing so I only press 
upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which 
the case is susceptible that the property, peace, and security of no 
section are to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming 
administration. I add, too, that all the protection which, consist- 
ently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given will be 
cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for 
whatever cause — as cheerfully to one section as to another. 

There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives 
from service or labor. This clause I now read is as plainly written 
in the Constitution as any other of its provisions: 

"No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or 
regulation therein be discharged from such service or labor, but 
shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service 
or labor may be due." 

It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by 
those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves; 
and the intention of the lawgiver is the law. All members of Con- 
gress swear their support to the whole Constitution — to this pro-< 
vision as much as to any other. To the proposition, then, that 
slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause "shall be 
delivered up" their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would 
make the effort in good temper, could they not with nearly equal 
unanimity frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good 
that unanimous oath ? 

There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should 
be enforced by national or by State authority, but surely that 



436 THE BEGINNINGS OF A GEEAT CONFLICT 

chap. difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be sur- 

rendered, it can be "of but little consequence to him or to others by 

which authority it is done. And should any one in any case be 
content that his oath shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial 
controversy as to how it shall be kept ? 

Again: In any law upon this subject ought not all the safe- 
guards of liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence 
to be introduced, so that a free man be not in any case surrendered 
as a slave? And might it not be well at the same time to provide 
by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which 
guarantees that "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States ' ' ? 

I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations and 
with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any 
hypercritical rules; and while I do not choose now to specify par- 
ticular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest that 
it will be much safer for all, both in official and private stations, 
to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed 
than to violate any of them trusting to find impunity in having 
them held to be unconstitutional. 

It is seventy -two years since the first inauguration of a President 
under our National Constitution. During that period fifteen 
different and greatly distinguished citizens have in succession 
administered the executive branch of the Government. They have 
conducted it through many perils, and generally with success. 
Yet, with all this scope of precedent, I now enter upon the same 
task for the brief constitutional term of four years under great 
and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of the Federal Union, here- 
tofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted. 

I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Con- 
stitution the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is 
implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national 
governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever 
had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Con- 
tinue to execute all the express provisions of our National Consti- 
tution, and the Union will endure forever, it being impossible to 
destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument 
itself. 

Again : If the United States be not a government proper, but 
an association of States in the nature of the contract merely, can 
it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties 
who made it? One party to a contract may violate it — break it, 
so to speak — but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it ? 



THE CALL TO ARMS 437 

Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition xxn P ' 

that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by 

the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the 
Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association 
in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of 
Independence in 1776. It was further matured and the faith of all 
the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it 
should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. 
And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and 
establishing the Constitution was "to form a more perfect Union." 

But if destruction of the Union by one or by part only of the 
States be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before 
the Constitution, having lost the vital element of perpetuity. 

It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere 
motion can lawfully get out of the Union ; that resolves and ordi- 
nances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence 
within any State or States against the authority of the United 
States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circum- 
stances. 

I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the 
laws the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability I shall 
take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that 
the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. 
Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part, and I shall 
perform it as far as practicable unless my rightful masters, the 
American people, shall withhold the requisite means or in some 
authoritative manner direct the contrary. I trust this will not 
be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose 
of the Union that it will constitutionally defend and maintain 
itself. 

In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and 
there shall be none unless it is forced upon the national authority. 
The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess 
the property and places belonging to the Government and to col- 
lect the duties and imposts ; but beyond what may be necessary for 
these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against 
or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United 
States in any interior locality shall be so great and universal as 
to prevent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal 
offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among 
the people for that object. While the strict legal right may exist 
in the Government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the 
attempt to do so would be so irritating and so nearly impracticable 



438 THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 

xxfi P ' withal that I deem it better to forego for the time the uses of such 

offices. 

The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all 
parts of the Union. So far as possible the people everywhere shall 
have that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm 
thought and reflection. The course here indicated will be followed 
unless current events and experience shall show a modification or 
change to be proper, and in every case and exigency my best dis- 
cretion will be exercised, according to circumstances actually 
existing and with a view and a hope of a peaceful solution of the 
national troubles and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and 
affections. 

That there are persons in one section or another Avho seek to 
destroy the Union at all events and are glad of any pretext to do 
it I will neither affirm nor deny ;' but if there be such, I need ad- 
dress no word to them. To those, however, who really love the 
Union may I not speak? 

Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of 
our national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes, 
would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? Will you 
hazard so desperate a step while there is any possibility that any 
portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, 
while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones 
you fly from, will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake ? 
All profess to be content in the Union if all constitutional rights 
can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right plainly written 
in the Constitution has been denied? I think not. Happily, the 
human mind is so constituted that no party can reach to the 
audacity of doing this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in 
which a plainly written provision of the Constitution has ever 
been denied. If by the mere force of numbers a majority should 
deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, 
it might in a moral point of view justify revolution ; it certainly 
would if such right were a vital one. But such is not our case. 
All the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly 
assured to them by affirmations and negations, guaranties and 
prohibitions, in the Constitution that controversies never arise 
concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a 
provision specifically applicable to every question which may occur 
in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate nor any 
document of reasonable length contain express provisions for all 
possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by 
national or State authority? The Constitution does not expressly 



THE CALL TO ARMS 439 

say. May Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? The Con- con- 
stitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in — 

the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. 

From questions of this class spring all our constitutional con- 
troversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. 
If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the Gov- 
ernment must cease. There is no other alternative, for continuing 
the Government is acquiescence on one side or the other. If a 
majority in such case will secede rather than acquiesce, they make 
a precedent which in turn will divide and ruin them, for a minority 
of their own will secede from them whenever a majority refuses to 
be controlled by such minority. For instance, why may not any 
portion of a new confederacy a year or two hence arbitrarily secede 
again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to 
secede from it ? All who cherish disunion sentiments are now being 
educated to the exact temper of doing this. 

Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to 
compose a new union as to produce harmony only and prevent 
renewed secession? 

Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. 
A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limita- 
tions, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popu- 
lar opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free 
people. Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy or to 
despotism. Unanimity is impossible. The rule of a minority, as a 
permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, rejecting 
the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all 
that is left. 

I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional 
questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court, nor do I deny 
that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties 
to a suit as to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled 
to very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all 
other departments of Government. And while it is obviously pos- 
sible that such decision may be erroneous in any given case, still 
the evil effect following it, being limited to that particular case, 
with the chance that it may be overruled and never become a prece- 
dent for other cases, can better be borne than could the evils of 
a different practice. At the same time, the candid citizen must 
confess that if the policy of the Government upon vital questions 
affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of 
the Supreme Court the instant they are made in ordinary litiga- 
tion between parties in personal actions, the people will have 



CHAP. 

XXII 



440 THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 

ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically 
resigned their Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. 
Nor is there in this view any assault upon the court or the judges. 
It is a duty from which they may not shrink to decide cases prop- 
erly brought before them, and it is no fault of theirs if others seek 
to turn their decisions to political purposes. 

One section of our country believes slavery is light and ought 
to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not 
to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive- 
slave clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppression of 
the foreign slave-trade are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any 
law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people 
imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the people 
abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break 
over in each. This, I think, cannot be perfectly cured, and it 
would be worse in both cases after the separation of the sections 
than before. The foreign trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would 
be ultimately revived without restriction in one section, while 
fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be sur- 
rendered at all by the other. 

Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove 
our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable 
wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go 
out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other, but differ- 
ent parts of our country cannot do this. They cannot but remain 
face to face, and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must con- 
tinue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse 
more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than 
before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make 
laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than 
laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight 
always; and when, after much loss on both sides and no gain on 
either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of 
intercourse, are again upon you. 

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who 
inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of existing Govern- 
ment, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it 
or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I can- 
not be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens 
are desirous of having the National Constitution amended. While 
I make no recommendation of amendments, I fully recognize the 
rightful authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exer- 
cised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself; 



THE CALL TO ARMS 441 

and I should, under existing- circumstances, favor rather than chap 

oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon 

it. I will venture to add that to me the convention mode seems 
preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the 
people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or 
reject propositions originated by others, not especially chosen for 
the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would 
wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed amend- 
ment to the Constitution — which amendment, however, I have not 
seen — has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Govern- 
ment shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the 
States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid miscon- 
struction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to 
speak of particular amendments so far as to say that, holding such 
a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objec- 
tion to its being made express and irrevocable. 

The chief magistrate derives all his authority from the people, 
and they have conferred none upon him to fix terms for the separa- 
tion of the States. The people themselves can do this also if 
they choose, but the executive as such has nothing to do with it. 
His duty is to administer the present Government as it came to 
his hands and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor. 

Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate 
justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the 
world? In our present differences, is either party without faith 
of being in the right ? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with His 
eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours 
of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the 
judgment of this great tribunal of the American people. 

By the frame of the Government under which we live, this same 
people have wisely given their public servants but little power for 
mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of 
that little to their own hands at very short intervals. "While the 
people retain their virtue and vigilance no administration by any 
extreme of wickedness or folly can very seriously injure the Gov- 
ernment in the short space of four years. 

My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this 
whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If 
there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which 
you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by 
taking time, but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of 
you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unim- 
paired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing 



442 THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 



xxn P ' under it: while the new administration will have no immediate 
power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted that you 
who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there still 
is no single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, 
patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never 
yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the 
best way all our present difficulty. 

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in 
mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will 
not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves 
the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy 
the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "pre- 
serve, protect, and defend it." 

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must 
not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not 
break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, 
stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living 
heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the 
chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by 
the better angels of our nature. 

"Civil war These words could have been uttered only by a man whose heart 

Must Now •■,!•■, i in • -i 

Come" was overflowing with kindness, yet they had something m them 
that threatened like low thunder. If Lincoln was not going to 
allow the seceding States to remain out of the Union, if he was 
going to execute the laws of the United States on the soil of the 
Confederate States, taking possession of Southern ports and col- 
lecting taxes at those ports, he was going to have war. For if he 
undertook to do these things he was certain to be resisted and when 
resistance was offered force would have to be met with force. To 
the country at large, especially to the Confederacy, the address 
meant war. In Wall Street there was a decided downward move- 
ment of stocks. One Richmond newspaper declared that the policy 
indicated in the Lincoln inaugural address would meet with the 
stern and unyielding resistance of a united South, while another 
exclaimed: "Civil war must now come. Virginia must fight." 
Said L. Q. Washington, a Southern leader: "We all put the same 
construction on the inaugural. We agreed that it was Lincoln's 
purpose at once to attempt the collection of the revenue, to reinforce 
and hold Forts Sumter and Pickens and retake the other places. 
He is a man of will and firmness. His cabinet will yield to him 
with alacrity, I think," 



THE CALL TO ARMS 443 

But Lincoln proceeded cautiously. Through March he gave to chap. 

" XXII 

the country no sign or sure indication of his purposes. The next — 



day after his inauguration he sent to the Senate the names of his a Group of 
proposed cabinet. William H. Seward was selected as secretary of 
state ; Salmon P. Chase of Ohio as secretary of the treasury ; Simon 
Cameron of Pennsylvania as secretary of war; Gideon Welles of 
Connecticut as secretary of the navy; Caleb B. Smith of Indiana 
as secretary of the interior; Edward Bates of Missouri as attorney- 
general ; and Montgomery Blair of Maryland as postmaster-general. 
It was a fusion cabinet, for the antecedents of Cameron, Chase, and 
Welles Avere on the whole Democratic, while Blair was by no means 
an out-and-out Republican. When Lincoln was reminded that by 
including the four men just mentioned his cabinet would stand four 
Democrats and three Republicans, he replied : "You seem to forget 
that I expect to be there, and counting me as one, you see how 
nicely the cabinet would be balanced and ballasted. Besides, Gen- 
eral Cameron is not Democratic enough to hurt him." It was soon 
discovered that the Pennsylvania man was not statesman enough 
to hurt him. Having shown himself to be unfit for the War De- 
partment, Cameron was removed in January, 1862, and his port- 
folio given to Edwin M. Stanton, "a man of flaming patriotism, of 
tremendous vigor, who welcomed burdens however odious or diffi- 
cult, provided it should be said of him that he bore them for his 
country's good." Upon the whole the cabinet consisted of an ex- 
ceptionally strong group of men. Not since Washington's admin- 
istration has the President's official family contained at any one 
time three statesmen who in efficiency and power have been the 
equals of Seward, Chase, and Stanton. 

The cabinet and the country as well soon witnessed a test of the £ rt c °smnt n Jr 
new President's mettle. Fort Sumter was still held by Federal 
troops, but its situation had become critical indeed. It was covered 
by the guns of Confederate batteries, and its provisions were almost 
exhausted. Southerners had given warning that the sending of 
reinforcements or provisions would be a signal for war. They de- 
manded the evacuation of the fort ; for the flag that waved over it 
was now regarded by them as the emblem of a foreign nation, and 
it was offensive to their eyes. Lincoln had made up his mind that 
the flag should not come down without his having made an attempt 
at least to keep it flying. He referred the question of the forts 
to General Winfield Scott, the head of the Federal army, but the 



444 THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 



CHAP. 
XXII 



The Fall of 
Sumter 



aged commander was not in sympathy with the President's policy. 
In a letter to Seward he said : ' ' Say to the seceded States — Way- 
ward Sisters, depart in peace." Receiving no encouragement from 
Scott, Lincoln then turned to his cabinet, asking each member the 
question: "Assuming it to be possible to now provision Fort 
Sumter, under all the circumstances is it wise to attempt it?" 
Seward, Cameron, Welles, Smith, and Bates gave a negative answer ; 
only Chase and Blair answered affirmatively. Seward, still hoping 
for conciliation, thought that a quiet evacuation of Sumter would 
strengthen the Union sentiment in the South, would allay the popu- 
lar excitement there, and would cause the seceding States to reverse 
their action. In this pacific policy Seward was supported by many 

of the leading men of the coun- 
try. In the Senate, which was 
in extra session, Douglas, on 
March 15 declared that peace 
was the only policy that could 
save the country or save the Re- 
publican party, and that the 
withdrawal of Major Anderson 
was demanded by ' ' duty, honor, 
patriotism, and humanity." 
But Lincoln could not see things 
that way. He felt that if he 
surrendered Sumter he would 
surrender all. So he gave or- 
ders that on April 6 the army and navy should join forces and 
relieve Fort Sumter with men and provisions. 

But the relief of the fort was not achieved. When the Govern- 
ment of the Confederate States heard of Lincoln's action, Davis 
and his cabinet decided to demand the immediate surrender of the 
fort. They desired, however, no shedding of blood. To General 
Beauregard, who was to make the demand they telegraphed : "Do 
not desire needlessly to bombard Fort Sumter. If Major Anderson 
will state the time at which he will evacuate and agree that in the 
meantime he will not use his guns against us unless ours should be 
employed against Sumter, you are authorized thus to avoid the 
effusion of blood. If this or its equivalent be refused reduce the 
fort as your judgment decides to be most practicable." Anderson 
refused to surrender and on the next day, April 12, the bombard- 




ATl ANTIC 

OCEAN. 



Charleston Harbor 



THE CALL TO ARMS 445 

ment began. Since the fort had but sixty-four men and but little xxn P * 

ammunition, it was quickly and easily reduced. On April 13 

Anderson surrendered with permission to salute the flag as it was 
hauled down and to march out with colors flying and with drums 
beating. The next morning with a salute of fifty guns the flag was 
lowered. There had been a great deal of firing, but there was no 
loss of life on either side during the engagement. 

Lincoln, who had believed all along that the "tug must come TheCmmtrs 
sooner or later," was prepared in mind and purpose for the con- for war 
flict precipitated by the firing on Sumter. But the country was 
wholly unprepared in a military way to meet the crisis. The regu- 
lar army consisted of only about 18,000 men, and these were scat- 
tered at military posts. Advocates of preparedness are accustomed 
to say that if only we had had a large army there would have been 
no trouble. But this, of course, is only an assumption, and it is 
not a plausible assumption. On the contrary, it is quite gratuitous. 
For we must bear in mind the conditions under which a large 
standing army would of necessity have been organized. The Gov- 
ernment for years had been in the hands of men who would not 
have permitted the development of a large military establishment 
that could have been utilized to the disadvantage of the South. In 
the measures of defense that were actually taken, the discrimina- 
tion, where there was any, was always against the North. In 1856, 
when Jefferson Davis was secretary of war, there was appropriated 
for the whole line of Northern Atlantic fortifications only $190,000, 
while the appropriation for fortifications in the South was $928,- 
000. Later, Floyd, Buchanan's secretary of war, assisted in dis- 
tributing arms and ammunition to the Confederates, and it was the 
opinion of General Scott that the army had been scattered over the 
country by Floyd so that men could not be sent promptly against 
the Confederates. When the break came, hundreds of officers of the 
regular army and of the navy forsook the Union and gave their 
services to the seceding States. If there had been a great standing 
army would the situation relatively have been any better ? Then it 
must not be forgotten that the spirit of America had always been 
averse to imposing armaments. It was the boast and the pride of the 
nation that its standing army was small. If the rulers of the coun- 
try, running counter to this spirit, had built up a vast military 
establishment, they would have created an America wholly different 
from the one which actually existed in 1860. To draw conclusions 



446 THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 



CHAP 
XXII 



as to what would have happened in this imaginary America gives 
rise to speculations that can only be useless. 

The can for Having no strong regular army, Lincoln was compelled to sum- 
mon the militia to his aid. The moment the news of the attack 
upon Sumter reached him, he summoned Congress to meet on July 
4 in special session, and telegraphed to the governors of the several 
States, calling for militiamen to the number of 75,000 to suppress 
combinations obstructing the execution of the laws of the United 
States in seven of the Southern States. "I appeal," he said, "to 
all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain 
the honor, the integrity and existence of our National Union and 
the perpetuity of popular government and to redress wrongs already 
long enough endured." On April 19 the President set on foot a 
blockade of the ports of the seceding States. 

The The response to the President's call for troops showed that the 

Response 

attack upon the fort had aroused the country to a sense of duty; 
when the call was heard every man in the United States felt that 
he must decide whether he was for a Union consisting of all the 
States — the Union Lincoln was trying to uphold — or whether he 
was for secession. At the North the sentiment for the Union car- 
ried everything before it and men prepared themselves for a 
struggle. "At one stamp of his fooi," said Henry Adams, "the 
President called the whole nation to arms. ' ' At New York a quar- 
ter of a million people held a rally in Union Square and solemnly 
pledged themselves to the support of the Union. "The heather is 
on fire, ' ' said George Ticknor. ' ' I never before knew what a popu- 
lar excitement can be. Here at the North there was never anything 
like it; for if the feeling was as deep and as stern in 1775 it was 
by no means so intelligent or unanimous." Said "The New York 
Times": "The people will respond to this demand [for the volun- 
teers] with alacrity and exultation. They ask for nothing better 
than to be allowed to fight for the Constitution which their fathers 
framed. Whatever may have been their political differences, there 
has never been a moment when they were not ready to sink them 
all in their devotion to their common country and in defense of 
their national flag." The response was general: Democrats, Re- 
publicans, native-born Americans, foreigners — all rallied for the 
Union. Out of the Eastern cities came the Irish who had left their 
old home to escape famine. Out of the West came the Germans 
who had left the Fatherland to escape tyranny. 1 The response was 



THE CALL TO ARMS 447 

as prompt as it was universal. Within twenty-four hours the Sixth c . HAr - 

Massachusetts Regiment mustered in Boston Common and started : 

for the scene of action. A few days later the Seventh New York 
was on its way to Washington. Of the popularity of the Presi- 
dent's action there was every manifestation of assurance. In 
answer to the first call for 75,000 volunteers, and to a subsequent 
call made a few weeks later for 40,000 more, there were by July 1 
in the field at the command of the Government 310,000 men. 

In the States that had seceded Lincoln's call for troops was The south 
accepted as a challenge to war, and there went out from the Con- TrooU° r 
federate Government an appeal for 32,000 men in addition to the 
21,000 volunteers who had already enlisted. The response in the 
South was as hearty for the stars and bars as it was in the North 
for the stars and stripes. ' ' The anxiety among our citizens, ' ' said 
Howell Cobb of Georgia, "is not who shall go to the war, but who 
shall stay at home." Those who took the field in support of the 
Confederacy included the flower of the Southern youth, the prime 
of Southern manhood. The rich, the poor, the learned, and the 
unlearned offered their services, feeling that they were going out 
to fight for their country and their rights. By the middle of July 
more than 100,000 were enrolled for the army of the Confederacy 
and more than 50,000 were under arms organized with battalions 
and regiments. 

During the first months of the secession movement eight of the The"Bor- 
slave States loosely known as "border States" — Delaware, Mary- states." 
land, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, 
and Missouri — wavered between loyalty to the Union and to the 
Confederacy. The allegiance of these States was a question of 
the utmost importance, for if they all went over to the Confed- 
eracy, it would have fifteen States and its territory would exceed 
in area that of the settled portion of the Union that remained. In 
several of these doubtful States the policy was one of "watchful 
waiting": they would stay in the Union as long as there was peace, 
but at the crack of a gun they would go over to the Confederacy. 
"I will tell you," said Roger H. Pryor of Virginia on April 10, 
"what will put Virginia in the Southern Confederacy in less than 
an hour by Shrewsbury clock — strike a blow. ' ' He understood the 
situation. Two days later the bombardment of Sumter acted as a 
signal for the border States to decide upon their course. In Dela- 
1 See p. 346. 



448 THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 



CHAP. 
XXII 



ware the prevailing sentiment was for the Union and there was no 
secession. Maryland contained a powerful secession element, but 
when the test came she decided that she had no right to go out. 
In Virginia popular sentiment was voiced quite accurately by the 
governor, who flatly refused to furnish any troops in response to 
Lincoln's call. Two days after that call was made a convention of 
Virginia delegates by a vote of 103 to forty-six adopted an ordi- 
nance of secession. Arkansas followed on May 6, North Carolina 
on May 20, and Tennessee on June 24. Kentucky remained in the 
Union although she tried to pursue a course of neutrality. Missouri 
had decided against secession several weeks before the call for 
troops. So four of the border States remained loyal to the Union 
and four went over to the Confederacy. 



The First Clashes 



The 

Clash in 
Baltimore 



West 
Virginia 



While the Confederacy was making up its full count of States 
the border country was becoming the scene of warfare. The first 
blood was shed in Baltimore. On April 19, the anniversary of 
Lexington and five days after the surrender of Fort Sumter, the 
Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, while marching through the streets 
of Baltimore on its way to Washington, was attacked by a crowd 
of secessionists. There was an exchange of shots, with the result 
that several soldiers and a number of citizens were killed. The 
regiment fought its way to the railroad station and within a few 
hours reached Washington, where it was anxiously awaited by 
Lincoln, who was afraid Southern troops might at any moment 
attack the capital. 

The first skirmish between organized troops occurred in what is 
now West Virginia. While the eastern part of Virginia was 
strongly in favor of secession the western part was loyal to the 
Union. When, therefore, Virginia seceded on April 17, the people 
over the mountains refused to go out with her. They took steps 
at once to secede from the seceder and formed a government of 
their own. In order to check this movement Confederate troops 
under Beauregard were hurried into western Virginia. On June 3 
they were attacked by a Union force under General George B. 
McClellan and were defeated. The people of western Virginia, 
carrying forward their plan of separation, organized a new State 



THE FIRST CLASHES 



449 



which in 1863 was admitted as the State of West Virginia. Thus chap. 

one of the first results of secession was to give a new State to the — 

Union. 

In Kentucky and Missouri there were also early clashes between Missouri 
the friends and enemies of secession. In Missouri the military 
operations in the summer of 1861 were of vast importance to the 
Union cause. The governor, who was a violent secessionist, made 
an attempt to take his State over to the Confederates; but he was 
thwarted in his plans by the prompt action of Nathaniel Lyon, who, 
with a small army of Union soldiers, captured the principal strong- 
holds of the State. In a battle at Wilson's Creek on August 10, 
Lyon was killed and the Union forces were defeated, but the net 
result of the fighting was to drive the Confederate forces into 
Arkansas and save Missouri to the Union. 

The battle that first stirred the nation deeply was fought near Manassas 
Manassas, a railroad station in Virginia about thirty miles south- 
west of Washington. Lincoln's call for troops quickly brought to 
Washington a large army, upon which devolved the twofold duty 
of protecting the nation's capital and attacking Richmond, which 
after the secession of Virginia was chosen as the capital of the 
Confederacy. The people of the North were desirous that the 
attack upon Richmond be made without delay. ' ' On to Richmond ! 
On to Richmond ! ' ' was the cry. To please the North, therefore, 
General McDowell with 30,000 men marched out of Washington 
to give battle to Beauregard, who, after the clash with McClellan 
in West Virginia, had taken a position near Manassas, along the 
stream of Bull Run, where he commanded about 22,000 men. On 
July 21 the two armies met in battle, and the Union forces were 
disastrously defeated and put to flight. 

The people of the North hung their heads in shame when they Mccieiian 
heard that at the first important trial of strength the Union army 
had been routed. But Lincoln knew well enough that the defeat 
was due solely to a lack of training and bad management, and he 
at once set about making changes in the military organization. On 
the very day after Manassas he made General McClellan commander 
of all the forces in and around Washington. The Little Napoleon 
— as McClellan was called — had a remarkable genius for organizing 
and disciplining armies. The situation at Washington required all 
the skill he possessed; for almost nothing was being done in the 
way of training the raw regiments that were flocking into the 



450 THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 



CHAP. 
XXJI 



"On to 
Rich- 
mond ! " 



capital. Officers were occupying themselves lounging around the 
city. About the time McClellan arrived upon the scene somebody 
said that a boy threw a stone at a dog on Pennsylvania Avenue 
and hit three brigadier-generals. But presently generals and offi- 
cers were not so numerous on the streets, for the new commander 
kept them busy drilling their regiments and preparing their men 
for battle. As a result, by the last of October McClellan had a 
well-drilled, well-organized, and well-equipped army. 

By December McClellan 's command had reached a strength of 
185,000 men, the largest force that had ever been assembled in 
America — larger indeed than Napoleon at any time ever led into 
battle. What was to be done with this magnificent Army of the 
Potomac? The people of the North thought it ought to move out 
into Virginia and give battle to the enemy without a moment's 
delay. "On to Richmond! On to Richmond!" was again heard. 
But McClellan was slow to move. He was a superb drill-master 
but not a dashing warrior. Besides, it was vastly easier to cry 
"On to Richmond!" than it was to get there. Geography was 
strongly against the advance of troops across the country between 
Washington and the Confederate capital. The numerous parallel 
rivers which intersected the Virginia plain between the Blue Ridge 
Mountains and Chesapeake Bay, and which lay directly athwart 
the path of an invader, ' ' afforded the Northern armies the maximum 
number of difficulties in a march overland on Richmond, and gave 
the Confederates the maximum opportunities for defense." Mc- 
Clellan, thinking a great deal about saving his men from defeat 
and not enough, perhaps, about leading them to victory, held his 
fine army in check. Summer passed, the autumn passed, the year 
1861 passed, and still he made no advance upon Richmond. 



Foreign Complications 



The Object 
of the 
Blockade 



The establishment of the Confederacy quickly gave rise to inter- 
national episodes of a most serious nature. One of the chief causes 
of friction with foreign powers was the blockade which the Presi- 
dent declared immediately after the rupture. The purpose of the 
blockade was to prevent the South from selling its tobacco and 
cotton to the countries of Europe and receiving in exchange not 
only guns, ammunition, and other military supplies, but also cloth- 
ing, shoes, medicines, and other articles of daily use. If the South 



FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS 



451 



The Block- 
ade and In- 
ternational 
Relations 



could be cut off from the foreign trade her predicament would be chap 

most distressing, for her manufactures were almost a negligible 

factor in her economic life. She was never cut off completely, for 
there was always some blockade-running, yet the normal intercourse 
with Europe ceased even before the fighting was fairly begun, and 
in less than a year the coast was so well guarded that only the 
swiftest and boldest craft would risk the danger of breaking 
through the line. 

Considered as a war measure the blockade was of incalculable 
value to the North, for it struck the South at its weakest point. 
But since in striking this blow it at the same time inflicted injuries 
upon the trade of foreign nations it was bound to have an unfor- 
tunate effect upon our international relations. Lincoln would fain 
have treated the secession trouble as a family quarrel with which 
outsiders had nothing whatever to do. He did not regard the 
disturbance as a war but as a mere uprising which he could suppress 
by the arm of the militia. 1 When he made the call for troops he 
did so by virtue of a law passed in 1795 giving the President the 
power to use the militia in suppressing insurrections. It was his 
theory that on land the Confederate troops were insurgents and 
that on sea Confederate vessels were craft engaged in piracy. But 
when he announced the blockade he virtually admitted that he was 
waging a war with the South, for in the eyes of international law 
a blockade assumes the existence of belligerency. Taking this view 
of the matter Great Britain on May 13, as soon as the blockade was 
declared, recognized the Confederate States as belligerents and pro- 
claimed herself a neutral nation. Her example was followed by 
most of the important nations of Europe. In the North the action 
of England in recognizing the Confederacy as a belligerent was 
resented as an evidence of unfriendliness to the United States; 
for it gave to Confederate cruisers the status of privateers, while 
it was the policy and desire of Lincoln that they should be regarded 
as pirates. England, however, was within her rights and made out 
a good case for the course she took. It happened that her policy 
of neutrality was in line with her own interests and with those of 
the Confederacy. It helped the South to get more supplies for 
carrying on the war than she would otherwise have got and it 



1 Congress at no time declared war against the Confederacy, although on May 
6, 1861, the Confederate Congress passed an act recognizing the existence of 
war between the United States and the Confederate States. 



452 THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 

™iF' helped England to get more of the cotton that her great manu- 

facturing cities needed so badly. 

Affair"^"' ^ ne un f r i en dly feeling caused by England's proclamation of neu- 
trality was intensified by the incident known as the "Trent Affair." 
On November 8, 1861, the San Jacinto, an American man-of-war 
commanded by Captain Wilkes, overhauled in the Bermuda Chan- 
nel the British mail steamship Trent and took from her by force 
James Mason and John Slidell, who had been commissioned by 
the Confederate Government to represent its interests in England 
and France. The commissioners were taken to Fort Warren in 
Boston and imprisoned. The Trent was allowed to proceed to her 
destination. Upon hearing of the incident, Americans in the North 
went beside themselves with joy. Wilkes became a popular hero : 
the House of Representatives formally thanked him, and the 
secretary of the navy wrote him a note of congratulation. Even 
Secretary Seward at first was pleased. But when the English 
Government demanded peremptorily the liberation of Mason and 
Slidell American officials were sobered by a second thought. 
Seward indeed, even before he heard from England, came to the 
conclusion that it was best to disclaim authority for the arrest. 
The demand for the release of the commissioners was made on the 
ground that Great Britain was a neutral power and in making 
it the British Government was insisting on a principle which the 
United States itself had always strongly insisted upon — namely, 
that a neutral vessel should not be subjected to the right of search. 
After taking into consideration all the circumstances of the seizure 
Seward decided that the captives must be given up. "If I decide 
this case," he said, "in favor of my own Government, I must dis- 
allow its most cherished principles and reverse and forever abandon 
its essential policy. The country cannot afford the sacrifice. If 
I maintain those principles and adhere to that policy, I must sur- 
render the case itself. We are asked to do to the British nation 
just what we have always insisted all nations ought to do to us." 
Mason and Slidell were accordingly released; embarking upon an 
English vessel they were taken to England. 

Resist ^ was n °t pl easan t to yield in this matter, but there was no doubt 

Temptation fa^ ^\ ie ac t f "Wiik es was an error. Besides it was of the utmost 
importance to the Union side that there be no breach with England. 
America needed her good-will, and at the beginning of the war it 
was by no means certain that she would have it. Indeed, in the 



FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS 453 

early days of the struggle it seemed that the Union's only real £5n P * 

friend in Europe was Russia. If the United States had insisted on 

retaining Mason and Slidell, it might easily have happened that 
England would retaliate by recognizing the independence of the 
Confederate States. She might, indeed, have gone further and 
broken the blockade and renewed her trade with the South. This 
she could have done without any great difficulty, and the tempta- 
tion to do it was very strong. She sadly needed the trade of the 
South. Her mills were idle and her workmen were suffering be- 
cause she could get no cotton. But the temptation was resisted ; as 
far as outward forms were concerned England maintained friendly 
relations with the United States throughout the war. For this amic- 
able relationship thanks were due largely to the British working- 
man. The aristocracy and governing classes of England were as a 
rule inclined to favor the South, but the working classes wanted 
the Union to win even though British factories should close and 
British laborers go without bread. "Impartial history will tell," 
said John Bright in a speech to the London trade-unions, "that, 
when your statesmen were hostile or coldly indifferent, when many 
of your rich men were corrupt, when your press was mainly 
written to betray the fate of a continent and its vast population 
being in peril, you clung to freedom with an unfaltering trust that 
God in His infinite mercy will make it the heritage of all His 
children." 

That harmonious diplomatic relations w T ith England were main- Propag: 
tained was due in no small measure to propaganda, a war agency 
that was freely employed both by the North and the South. The 
able and talented Yancey was early sent to Europe by the Con- 
federacy to plead its cause at various capitals and to promise "all 
that the cupidity of merchants could suggest — cotton and free trade, 
treaties on the most favorable footing — if only independence were 
favored." To offset this appeal Seward not only fitted the diplo- 
matic posts with the best men he could find, but "sent abroad 
private citizens of experience and ability, whose duty it should be 
to communicate with the metropolitan press, respond to Confed- 
erate statements of injurious tendency, seek interviews with the 
French and English legislators and leading men of influence, and 
be instant at all times to set right the Union cause in all intelligent 
circles of influence. Thurlow Weed, the veteran journalist and 
politician, was sent thus to traverse France and Great Britain; 



454 THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 



Archbishop Hughes to plead with the Romanists in Paris; and 
Bishop Mcllvane to visit prelates of the English church. A marked 
change in public opinion abroad was the result of their activities. ' ' 1 

Neither diplomacy nor propaganda, however, could triumph 
completely over the hostile influences that were at work in Europe. 
The crafty and vainglorious Napoleon III was willing to do any 
amount of harm to the Union cause provided he could thereby pro- 
mote the glory of France. The ambitious schemes with which his 
brain teemed included a plan for planting the French power in 
the western hemisphere, and the civil strife with which the United 
States was being torn gave him the opportunity he was seeking. 
In 1861 he contrived to induce England and Spain to join with him 
and go into Mexico with an armed force for the avowed purpose 
of collecting the claims of their subjects against the Government 
of that distracted republic, which as usual was drifting hither 
and thither impelled by different factions. England and Spain, 
becoming convinced that Napoleon had ulterior designs, presently 
withdrew their forces, leaving France to act alone. Napoleon went 
on with his plans and, having overthrown the existing Mexican 
Government, placed Maximilian, a brother of the emperor of 
Austria, on a throne supported by French bayonets. All this of 
course was violative of the Monroe Doctrine, but the American 
Government could do nothing but protest and bide its time. 

The conduct of France in Mexico, although irritating and em- 
barrassing, was by no means so disquieting as the conduct of Eng- 
land. Many and serious were the troubles that came from our 
cousin across the seas. "Confederate cruisers," says Schouler, 
"found shelter in colonial ports of Great Britain, while other 
nations excluded them. The influence of the British press sub- 
served secession interests; blockade-running was almost altogether 
a British diversion, with risks taken by British insurance com- 
panies; British capitalists invested in the Southern loans; British 
agents in the United States served as Confederate agents and 
emissaries; British merchants supplied to the Confederate army 
ammunition and supplies." But the worst offense of Great Britain 
was that she permitted vessels for the Confederate navy to be con- 
structed in her shipyards. The war had hardly begun before the 
keel of the cruiser Florida had been laid, and by August 1, 1861, 
the contract had been signed for the building of the Alabama. 

1 Schouler, "History of the United States" ; Vol. VI, p. 120. 



FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS 455 

These vessels, built for the purpose of preying upon Union ship- Sff 1 ^* 

ping, were allowed to leave British ports, and by the time the war 

was well under way they were out on the ocean. Of their devasta- 
tions we shall learn hereafter. 1 Of England's connection with the 
fitting out and manning of the terrible Alabama we may let an 
Englishman, Goldwin Smith, speak: "No nation ever inflicted 
upon another a more flagrant or more maddening wrong [permit- 
ting the Alabama to escape] . No nation with English blood in its 
veins had ever borne such a wrong without resentment. . . . Built 
and equipped in a British port, manned by British seamen, with 
the English flag flying, she went forth to cruise from an English 
port against the commerce of our allies." 

Suggested Readings 

Secession: Rhodes, Vol. Ill, pp. 114-145; Davis, Vol. I, pp. 71, 1G8-170. 

The Confederate States of America : Davis, Vol. I, pp. 229-241. 

The Forts: Hitchcock, pp. 252-272. 

The call to arms : Ropes, Vol. I, pp. 90-97. 

Bull Run (first battle) : Ropes, Vol. I, pp. 121-156. 

The geography of the civil war : Semple, pp. 280-311. 

Foreign relations and the Trent: Schouler, Vol. VI, pp. 111-127. 

Why the Civil War came : Van Metre, pp. 216-221. 

1 See p. 478. 



XXIII 
THE CIVIL WAR 

The Assembling of the Hosts 
The North T\ /T ANASSAS enlarged the conflict from an insurrection to a 

and the A/I ° 

south 1~X civil war. Now beyond all doubt the North and South must 

Compared . 

meet in battle array. On the Union side there were twenty-two 
States; on the Confederate side eleven. The military population 
of the North was about 4,600,000 ; that of the South about 1,150,000. 
In the sinews of war, in wealth and resources, the advantage was 
all with the North, the value of its real and personal property being 
nearly $11,000,000,000, while the value of these two kinds of prop- 
erty in the South was only about $5,000,000,000. In the value of 
its manufactures the North surpassed the South in the proportion 
of eleven to one. In the manufacture of iron, the indispensable 
article of war, the South had made almost no progress at all. If 
the Confederacy was to be supplied with the munitions of war it 
would have to bring them from outside. In transportation facili- 
ties, too, the North was far ahead of the South. The network of 
railroads in the Northern States made it possible to mobilize troops 
quickly and place them at strategic points. Besides, the trunk 
lines built in the fifties would serve as channels of trade between 
the East and the West, even though the South should be able to 
keep the Mississippi closed. In the South railroads were very few 
in number, and their assistance in the movement of troops and 
supplies could not be very great. As to the qualities of the soldiers 
who would fight the battles, General Winfield Scott gave the fol- 
lowing estimate: "Southern soldiers have elan, courage, wood- 
craft, consummate horsemanship, endurance of pain, equal to the 
Indians, but they will not submit to discipline. They will not 
take care of things or husband their resources. If it could be done 
by one wild desperate dash they would do it, but they cannot stand 
the waiting. . . . Men of the North on the other hand can wait; 
they can bear discipline ; they can endure forever. Losses in battles 
are nothing to them. They will fight to the bitter end. ' ' 

450 



THE ASSEMBLING OF THE HOSTS 



457 



The South 
on the 
Defensive 



Although in most things the advantage was with the North, in CHAP 

one important respect the outlook was favorable to the South : its 

task was much lighter than the task laid out for itself by the 
North. The North set out to save the Union, to maintain the in- 
tegrity of the nation. To do this it would have to go forth as an 
aggressor and an invader and fight an offensive war. It would 
have to conquer and crush piece by piece a country five times as 
large as France. The South was not compelled to go forth and 
conquer. Desiring only to be let alone, all it had to do was to 
defend itself against the invader. It would win without conquering 
a single foot of territory. 




Territory held by the Confederates at the close of 1861 
In respect to the matter of preparedness neither side at the be- organized 

x - 1 x Forces at 

ginning had much advantage over the other, for both sides were the End of 

1861 

wholly unprepared for war. But preparation went on with feverish 
haste and by the end of 1861 mighty hosts had been assembled. 
At the beginning of 1862 the organized forces of the Union army 
consisted of nearly 500,000 men and the Union navy numbered 
more than 200 armed vessels. Of the land forces, about 15,000 
were at Fortress Monroe; about 200,000 were stationed in the 
vicinity of Washington; about 20,000 were in western Virginia; 
about 100,000 were at Louisville ; about 100,000 were at St. Louis, 
and at Cairo, Illinois; about 20,000 were on the extreme western 
frontier. The organized forces of the Confederate army at the 



458 THE CIVIL WAR 

xxm* commencement of 1862 were not far from 250,000 men. Of these 
about 175,000 were in eastern Virginia ; about 30,000 were in Ken- 
tucky at Columbus, Fort Donelson, and Fort Henry ; about 20,000 
were in Tennessee, at Nashville and Chattanooga; and a consider- 
able number were holding the Mississippi, being stationed at New 
Orleans, Natchez, Vicksburg, and Memphis. 
iiuTs 1 " ^ ne y ear 1^61 had been spent in preparation. When the year 

order" 8 1862 opened, Lincoln believed that the time had come for action. 
On January 27, as the commander-in-chief of the army and navy, 
he issued the following stirring order : 

Ordered: That the 22d day of February, 1862, be the day for a 
general movement of the land and naval forces of the United States 
against the insurgent forces. 

That especially 

The Army at and about Fortress Monroe, 

The Army of the Potomac [at Washington under McClellan], 

The Army of western Virginia, 

The Army near Mumfordsville [near Louisville] Kentucky, 

The Army and Flotilla at Cairo, 

And a Naval Force in the Gulf of Mexico 
be ready for a movement on that day. 

That all other forces ... be ready to obey additional orders 
when duly given. 

That the Heads of Departments with all the subordinates and 
the General-in-Chief with all other commanders and subordinates 
of the land and naval forces will severally be held to their strict 
and full responsibilities for the prompt execution of this order. 

By the time this order was sent out Lincoln and his advisers had 
determined upon a plan of campaign. The Union forces must do 
four things : capture Richmond ; maintain an effective blockade ; 
gain possession of the Mississippi River, so as to give the Northern 
people an outlet to the ocean and at the same time cut the Con- 
federacy into two parts; and press forward upon the Confederate 
lines until every foot of the territory of the seceding States should 
be brought under the control of the Federal power. This meant 
war in Virginia and in the neighboring States, war along the 
coast and on the ocean, and war in the West. 



THE WAR IN THE WEST IN 1862 459 



The War in the West in 1862 °™f- 



The first earnest, systematic pressure upon the Confederate lines The West in 
was applied in the West, where an energetic movement of the 
armies began even before the date assigned in Lincoln's order. 
The part taken by the West in the prosecution of the war had an 
importance which it would be difficult to overestimate. Western 
foodstuffs fed the Union armies, and Western soldiers bore the brunt 
of many of the hardest-fought battles. General Sherman early 
predicted that the war would be won by Western armies. As a 
matter of fact it was the movement of Union armies in the West 
that turned the left flank of the Confederate army, crumpled it, 
and drove it eastward to final defeat. 

The man who was foremost in directing that movement came oiysses 

Simpson 

out of the West, At the outbreak of the war Ulysses Simpson Grant 
Grant, although thirty-nine years of age, was wholly unknown to 
fame. He was trained for war in the military academy at West 
Point, where he was graduated in 1843, standing twenty-first in a 
class of thirty-nine. He was good in mathematics and the best 
horseman in his class. In the Mexican War he fought with his 
regiment in almost every important battle and won distinction for 
personal gallantry. In 1854 he resigned from the army and 
settled near St. Louis, where he undertook to conduct a real estate 
business. Failing in this, he moved with his family to Galena, Illi- 
nois, where he took employment in his father's store at a salary of 
$800 a year. He remained at Galena until the outbreak of hos- 
tilities in 1861. At that time he was regarded as a broken, 
disappointed man. He seemed to have no ambition, and his nature 
seemed to be asleep. But when the war came on he was stirred 
with new life and his marvelous faculties asserted themselves. He 
wrote to the adjutant-general at Washington offering his services 
to the Union army, but no notice was taken of his letter. Never- 
theless, in June, 1861, he was successful in securing an appointment 
as colonel of an Illinois regiment ; in August he was made a briga- 
dier-general of volunteers. He now moved upward from one 
position to another until he became the central military figure of 
the war. Grant was short in stature, round-shouldered, and not at 
all striking in personal appearance. "He has rough, light-brown 
whiskers, ' ' said an observer, ' ' blue eyes, and a rather scrubby look 
withal. But his face is firm and hard and his eye is clear and 



460 THE CIVIL WAR 

chap. resolute." Upon the field of battle Grant's physical courage 
seemed wonderful even to the bravest of his colleagues. Through- 
out rattling musketry fire, with bullets flying all around, this 
thoughtful, silent man would sit in his saddle without moving a 
muscle or winking an eye, quiet, imperturbable. Direct in move- 
ment and persevering in action, he went straight against the 
enemy to crush him, and he fought on and on, hammering away 
until the victory was complete. 

Fort Henry; it was Grant's fortune to strike the first really effective blow 

Fort . J 

Doneison delivered by the Union army. When the campaign in the West 
opened in 1862 the Confederates held Fort Henry on the Tennessee 
River, and Fort Doneison on the Cumberland. These were very 
important strongholds, for they guarded waterways that led far 
into the center of the Confederacy ; and accordingly a prompt move- 
ment against them was decided upon. On February 6 Commodore 
Foote, with a flotilla of gunboats, captured Fort Henry; ten days 
later General Grant led a force of 30,000 men against Fort Donei- 
son and after three days of hard fighting compelled the fort to 
surrender. Fifteen thousand Confederate soldiers were captured. 
This victory brought the whole of Kentucky and a large part of 
Tennessee under the control of the Union forces and opened a road 
into the heart of the Southland. Nashville, the capital of Ten- 
nessee, was occupied by Union troops. 

Corinth The loss of Doneison made it necessary, of course, for the Con- 

federates to move their line of defense further south. Their new 
rallying point was at Corinth, an important railroad center in 
northern Mississippi. Union strategy, therefore, required the cap- 
ture of Corinth ; but there was mucli hard fighting before it was 
taken. After taking Doneison Grant moved up the Tennessee to 

shiioh Pittsburg Landing, near Shiloh Church, expecting to be joined by 

General Buell. But on April 6, before Buell's arrival, Albert 
Sidney Johnston, one of the ablest of the Southern generals, sud- 
denly attacked the Union forces and drove Grant from his position. 
On the morning of the seventh, however, Buell arrived with fresh 
troops and saved the Union army from defeat. In the battle John- 
ston was killed. He was succeeded in command by Beauregard, 
who led the Confederate forces back to Corinth. On May 30 they 
were quickly dislodged by General Halleck, the commander of the 
Union armies in the West. After the occupation of Corinth there 
was no more desperate fighting between the land forces in the 



THE WAR IN THE WEST IN 1862 



461 



West until October 8, when Bragg, who was making a raid into chap. 
Kentucky, was halted by Buell near Perryville and driven back - 



into Tennessee. At Murfreesboro Bragg was attacked by Rosecrans Murfrees- 

boro 

and after three days ' fighting his army was so demoralized that his 
officers urged him to retreat in order to save it. He therefore fell 
back into the hills around Chattanooga, while Rosecrans moved into 
Murfreesboro. This was at the end of the year 1862. 




The War in the West 



of the 
Mississippi 



While the Confederate lines were being driven back in this way fo^e" 8 
by Grant and Halleck a fierce contest was going on for the pos- c 
session of the Mississippi. At the beginning of 1862 this river 
from Columbus, Kentucky, to its mouth was controlled by the 
Confederates. After the surrender of Donelson, however, Columbus 
was abandoned, and the Confederates moved down to Island No. 10. 
Here, on April 7, while the battle of Shiloh was raging, they were 
attacked by Foote with gunboats and by Pope with a land force 
and were driven from their position. Two months later Fort Pillow 
and Memphis were abandoned. The upper Mississippi was now 
controlled by the Union forces as far as Vicksburg. In the mean- 
time Admiral Farragut was gaining control of the lower Mississippi. 



462 



THE CIVIL WAR 



CHAP. 
XXIII 



The 

Monitor 
and the 
Merrimac 



McClellan 
on the 
Peninsula 



In April he entered the mouth of the river with a great fleet, forced 
his way past Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip, and captured New 
Orleans and Baton Rouge. By August the Union forces had full 
control of the Mississippi, except the stretch between Port Huron 
and Vicksburg. 

The War in the East in 1862 

In the East the year 1862 opened with McClellan still inactive, 
although the North was anxiously waiting for him to lead his splen- 
did army against Richmond. More than two months passed before 
the slow and cautious general began to advance. About the time 
he was getting ready to move the country was thrilled by the fight 
between the Monitor and the Merrimac. On March 8 the Confed- 
erate ironclad Merrimac suddenly moved out from Norfolk and 
attacked the wooden ships of the Union fleet. Frigate after frigate 
collapsed under the deadly fire of the ironclad until, on the next 
day, it met the Monitor, a. low-decked ironclad vessel with a revolv- 
ing turret carrying heavy guns. It was now ironclad against iron- 
clad, and there was a gallant struggle on both sides. Neither vessel 
won a decided victory but the Merrimac was prevented from doing 
further mischief to the Union navy. This naval duel in Hampton 
Roads marked the beginning of a new era in naval architecture. 
The day of the wooden war vessel was past, and the day of the iron- 
clad had come. "The oak-ribbed and white winged navies whose 
dominion had been so long and so picturesque, at last and forever 
gave way to steel and steam. ' ' 

A few days after the battle of the ironclads McClellan, setting 
out from Washington, took his army by water to Fortress Monroe, 
from which place he moved up the peninsula bounded by the York 
and James rivers. He spent a month in preparing for the capture 
of Yorktown, but, just as he was ready to attack, the Confederates 
slipped away. McClellan pursued them and engaged them in battle 
at Williamsburg. At night the Confederates again slipped away, 
moving toward Richmond. McClellan followed them until they 
were within seven miles of the Confederate capital. He took a 
position on the Chickahominy River near Fair Oaks, where he was 
attacked by the Confederates. In this engagement the Confederates 
on the first day were successful, but on the second day they were 
defeated. 



THE WAR IN THE EAST IN 1862 463 

As the Confederate commander, General Joseph E. Johnston, f^f- 
had been wounded in the Battle of Fair Oaks, General Robert E. - 
Lee was appointed in his place. At the outbreak of the war Lee, R°t>ertE. 
like many of the Confederate officers, was in the Union army. His 
talents as a military man were recognized by Lincoln, who virtu- 
ally offered him the chief command of the Union forces; but he 
could not see his way to accept. Although he was opposed to seces- 
sion he could not go against his State ; and when Virginia seceded 
he cast his lot with the Confederacy. "With all my devotion to 
the Union," he said, "and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an 
American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to 
raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home." The 
sacrifice of his loyalty could not have been made without great 
distress of mind and spirit, for he was bound to the Union by the 
strongest ties. He proved to be a tower of strength to the Con- 
federate cause. His talent for organization was equal to that of 
McClellan, while as a strategist he has had few equals in history. 
He not only managed the Southern forces with consummate skill 
and ability, but he won the confidence of the Southern people. 
"Inspired by his example," says Charles Francis Adams, "the 
whole South seemed to lean up against him in implicit, loving re- 
liance." 

The right arm of Lee in the Virginia campaign was Stonewall 1 stonewall 

Jackson 

(T. J.) Jackson. This dashing, daring soldier, m the opinion of 
many competent critics, was the outstanding military genius de- 
veloped by the war. His strategy without doubt was marvelous, 
but much of his success was due to his striking personality. He 
was a hero himself, and he knew how to make heroes of his men. 
"His troops," says Lieutenant-Colonel G. F. R. Henderson, "had 
learned that Jackson's commendation was worth having. They 
had seen him in action, the coolest of them all, riding along the line 
of battle with as much composure as if the hail of bullets was no 
more than summer rain. They had seen him far in advance of 
the charging lines cheering them to the pursuit. . . . His staff 
was devoted to him for they had learned to know him. He lived 

1 The name "Stonewall" was given to Jackson at the first battle of Manassas. 
The story is that when some of the Confederate troops in the battle were being 
beaten back, General Bee, observing that Jackson was standing firm, called out, 
"There 's Jackson standing like a stone wall." Thereupon the cry passed from 
man to man, "Stonewall Jackson ! Stonewall Jackson !" 



464 



THE CIVIL WAR 



Jackson 
in the 

Shenandoah 
Valley 



with his military family on the most intimate terms and his un- 
failing courtesy, his utter absence of self-assertion, and his sweet 
temper, were irresistible." 

Jackson's chief task was to manoeuver so as to threaten the 
safety of Washington and thus draw Union troops away from the 
main body of the Army of the Potomac for the defense of the 
capital. McClellan in his movements against Richmond expected 
to be reinforced by 40,000 men under the command of McDowell. 
But throughout April and May Jackson was in the Shenandoah 
Valley creating the impression that he was about to swoop down 
upon Washington. Accordingly McDowell's army, which was on 
its way to reinforce McClellan, was hurried back to protect the 
capital. The combined strength of the three armies of Fremont, 
Banks, and McDowell were now thrown against Jackson with the 
intention of crushing him. Eluding the attack, he slipped out of 
the valley, and by the end of June he was back at Richmond. "In 
forty-eight days, he had marched 676 miles, fought five hard battles, 
accomplishing in each his purpose, baffled three Federal armies, his 
17,000 matched against 50,000, . . . and stricken the North with 
terror. He now stood with army diminished indeed, but trained, 
seasoned, superb in morale, and eager for new efforts, while his own 
reputation was forever fixed as one of the world's great captains." 1 
After Fair Oaks the Union army lay quietly in camp on the 
Chickahominy River, so close to Richmond that the soldiers could 
see the spires of the city and hear the bells ringing. McClellan was 
inactive because of the heavy rains, an excuse which caused Lincoln 
to remark that the general thought the rain fell only upon the just 
and not upon the unjust. Moreover the Union commander, com- 
plaining bitterly because McDowell's troops had not been allowed 
to join him, begged for reinforcements, which Lincoln, caring more 
for the security of Washington than for the capture of Richmond, 
did not see fit to send him. The army he had was very much larger 
than the one he would have to fight, yet he seemed unwilling to 
play the game of war unless the dice were loaded. Toward the end 
of June he was compelled to fight, for his lines were attacked by 
Lee. For seven days the two armies contended with each other 
in the neighborhood of Richmond. In this "Seven Days' Battle," 
the Confederates lost 10,000 men and the Union army 16,000. The 
victory — if there was a victory — was on the side of the Confed- 
1 J. K. Hosmer, "The Appe.il to Arms" ; p. 153. 



THE WAR IN THE EAST IN 1862 465 

erates, for they checked the advance of the Union army and they £^f- 

saved their capital. At the end of the long battle McClellan with 

his army retired to Harrison's Landing, no longer in sight of the 
steeples of Richmond, but twenty-five miles away. His Peninsular 
Campaign had been a failure. "Thousands upon thousands of the 
flower of American manhood had sickened and died in the malarial 
swamp of the Chickahominy and thousands more had watered with 
their blood the fields about Richmond, and all to no purpose. ' ' 

The bad fortune of the Peninsular Campaign strengthened rather coming 
than weakened the resolution of the President. "I expect to main- Ibraham- 
tain this contest until successful, or till I die, or am conquered, or 
my term expires, or Congress or the country forsakes me." Be- 
lieving that more troops were necessary, he called for 300,000 addi- 
tional men, to serve for three years or the duration of the war. 
The response was enthusiastic and whole-hearted. Soon he was 
cheered by the spirited refrain, "We are coming, Father Abraham, 
three hundred thousand more. ' ' He also decided to make a change 
in the organization of the army. The three armies of Fremont, 
Banks, and McDowell were organized as the Army of the Virginia 
and placed under Pope. More important, Halleck on July 11 was 
called from the west and made general-in-chief of all the armies 
of the United States. McClellan was reduced in command because 
Lincoln could no longer regard him as the right man in the right 
place. 

With the new commanders came a change in the plan of action. Pope 
It was decided to abandon the Peninsular Campaign ; and accord- 
ingly Halleck on August 22 ordered McClellan to withdraw the 
Union forces from the peninsula to the vicinity of Washington. 
McClellan protested stoutly, but in vain ; the army was withdrawn. 
Pope with his Army of Virginia met Lee on the old battle-field of 
Manassas on August 29 and 30 but was out-generaled and defeated. 
At his own request he was relieved from the command. 

After Pope's disastrous defeat McClellan was given a chance to ^Jf"^ 
retrieve his fame. He was reinstated and sent in pursuit of Lee, 
who after the victory at Manassas crossed the Potomac and marched 
into Maryland, hoping to rally the people of that State to the Con- 
federate cause. Paralleling the Confederate army as it moved 
northward, McClellan came up with Lee at Antietam Creek near 
Sharpsburg, Maryland. Here was the bloodiest single day of fight- 
ing in the war. The losses on both sides were enormous, but the 



466 



THE CIVIL WAR 



CHAP. 
XXIII 



Burnsidc 



Recapitu- 
lation 



victory may be said to have been on the Union side. At the end 
of the fight Lee recrossed the Potomac. McClellan, instead of 
pursuing his beaten foe, settled down to rest. The President hinted 
that the fight ought to go on without delay. "If we cannot beat 
the enemy," he said in a letter to McClellan, "where he is now, we 
never can." But McClellan could not be made to stir. Accord- 
ingly, on November 7 he was removed, and Burnside was given the 
command of the army. 

The choice of Burnside was a great mistake. He was not a good 
fighting man, he had no confidence in himself, and he inspired no 




Territory held by the Confederates at the close of 1862 

confidence in his soldiers. In the hope of skirting Lee's right flank 
and getting between the Confederate lines and Richmond he hurried 
forward and crossed the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg, 
where Lee and Jackson were waiting for him with a line of troops 
six miles long. On December 13 Burnside gave battle but was 
defeated with terrible slaughter. In an assault that proved to be 
vain one Union army corps lost more than a fourth of its men. 
Burnside was soon removed and General Hooker — "Fighting Joe 
Hooker" — was appointed in his place. 

Since Fredericksburg marked the close of the fighting in the 
East in 1862, we may now recapitulate. What was accomplished 
during this year? To what extent had the plan of campaign been 
carried out? The capture of Richmond had not been achieved; 



EMANCIPATION 467 

the Confederate capital was as secure at the end of the year as it £^f- 

was at the beginning. The blockade, however, had been maintained 

with increasing effectiveness. Great progress, too, had been made 
in the task of opening the Mississippi, for the Union forces had 
gained possession of the river throughout its entire length, except 
the stretch between Port Hudson and Vicksburg. In the matter of 
driving back the Confederate lines and gaining possession of the 
Confederate territory, the Union forces had been highly successful. 
At the opening of the year 1862 the Confederates occupied a portion 
of western Virginia, half of Kentucky, half of Missouri, and all 
the eleven States of the Confederacy. At the close of 1862, all 
western Virginia, all Missouri, all Kentucky, the greater part of 
Tennessee, half of Arkansas, and portions of Mississippi and 
Louisiana were in the possession of the Union forces. In the mat- 
ter of fighting, of battles lost and won, the Union forces were for 
the most part successful in the West, while the Confederates were 
for the most part successful in the East. 

Emancipation 

Antietam was significant not only because it brought cheer to an dthe\va 
Northern hearts but also because it furnished Lincoln the victory 
for which he was waiting to issue his proclamation of emancipation. 
He had no authority under the Constitution or under any law to 
emancipate a single slave and did not pretend to have. It was his 
view that Congress could not touch slavery in the States. Yet as 
the war progressed it became more and more impossible to ignore 
slavery matters. The negroes, although not fighters themselves, 
were available for doing many things that would help their masters 
to win the war. Slaves worked on the farms and raised the food 
for Confederate soldiers ; they drove the wagons of the Confederate 
armies; they threw up intrenchments for the Confederate defense. 
Congress, seeing how the military power of the South was being 
increased by the negroes, passed in 1861 a bill confiscating slaves 
whose labor was used for insurrectionary purposes. Lincoln signed 
the bill but with great reluctance, for at this time he was inclined 
to look askance at any legislation attacking slave property. His 
idea was that emancipation should be voluntary on the part of 
the loyal slave States, that compensation should be made to the 
slave-owners, and that colonization of the freed negroes should take 



468 



THE CIVIL WAR 



CHAP. 
XXIII 



Emancipa 
tion a 
Military 
Necessity 



A 

Memorable 

Letter 



place. In harmony with these ideas Congress in April, 1862, appro- 
priated a million dollars for compensation to owners and one hun- 
dred thousand dollars to assist in colonization. Another antislavery 
law was Trumbull 's Confiscation Act which provided that all slaves 
of disloyal masters escaping within the lines of the army ; all slaves 
captured from disloyal masters; and all slaves found within any 
place occupied by Confederate forces and afterward occupied by 
the forces of the United States should be forever free of their 
servitude and should not be held again as slaves. Further, the law 
virtually provided for the employment of negro troops, for the 
President was definitely authorized "to employ as many persons 
of African descent as may seem necessary and proper for the sup- 
pression of the rebellion." 

Although Lincoln desired to keep within constitutional limits in 
dealing with slavery, he was compelled to keep step with Northern 
sentiment, and this every day was becoming more favorable to 
emancipation. In Congress there was a growing disposition to 
compel the President to proclaim emancipation. But the occasion 
for congressional pressure did not arise. Lincoln, after deliberating 
upon the question in the most serious manner, came to the conclu- 
sion that emancipation was a military necessity. When Lee was 
invading Maryland he "made a promise to himself and his Maker" 
that if the Confederates were driven back he would issue a procla- 
mation of emancipation. Accordingly, on September 23, five days 
after Antietam, he issued a preliminary proclamation declaring 
that on January 1, 1863, "all persons held as slaves within any 
State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then 
be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thence- 
forward and forever free; and the executive government of the 
United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, 
shall recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons." Au- 
thority for the proclamation was found in the war powers of the 
Constitution : as a movement in the game of war Lincoln was going 
to deprive the masters of their slaves. The necessity for the 
measure, he believed, grew out of the necessity of saving the Union ; 
for the thing uppermost in his mind was the Union. About a month 
before the proclamation was issued and while he was considering the 
matter with his cabinet he wrote to Horace Greeley the following 
oft-quoted and memorable letter: "My paramount purpose in this 
struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy 



EMANCIPATION 469 

slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I £^f- 

would do it ; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would 

do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others 
alone, I would also do that. "What I do about slavery and the 
colored race I do because I believe it helps to save the Union ; and 
what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to 
save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am 
doing hurts the cause ; and I shall do more whenever I shall believe 
doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when 
shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall 
appear to be true views. I have here stated my purpose according 
to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my 
oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be 
free." 

The proclamation was hailed by antislavery radicals with grati- 
tude and joy. ' ' God bless Abraham Lincoln ! ' ' exclaimed ' ' The 
New York Tribune. ' ' In Boston, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo the proc- 
lamation was saluted with a hundred guns. But Lincoln detected a 
lukewarmness in the response of the North. His disappointment 
was expressed in a strictly private letter written to Vice-President 
Hamlin: "While I hope something from the proclamation my 
expectations are not as sanguine as are some of those of my friends. 
The time for its effect southward has not come ; but northward the 
effect should be instantaneous. It is six days old, and while com- 
mendation in newspapers and by distinguished individuals is all a 
vain man could wish, the stocks have declined and troops come 
forward more slowly than ever. This, looked soberly in the face, is 
not very satisfactory." The autumn elections must have been 
peculiarly discouraging to Lincoln, for his party was beaten in 
New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. 
The Republicans were barely successful in retaining the control of 
the House. Indeed that control would have been lost had not solid 
Republican delegations from Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri 
been secured by the presence of Federal troops. 

Although the elections seemed to be a vote of censure implying a The Bottom 

of the 

lack of confidence in the administration, Lincoln held firm to his Trouble 
purpose. He had come to believe that slavery was at the bottom of 
all the trouble. In his message to Congress in December, 1862, he 
said: "Without slavery the rebellion could never have existed; 
without slavery it could not continue." When January 1, 1863, 



470 



THE CIVIL WAR 



xxnf" arrived, as the Confederate States had failed to show the slightest 
sign of submission, he issued the proclamation : 



The Text 
of the 
Emanci- 
pation 
Proclama- 
tion 



Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander in Chief 
of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual 
armed rebellion against the authority and Government of the 
United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for sup- 
pressing said rebellion, do, on this 1st day of January, a. d. 1863, 
and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed 
for the full period of one hundred days from the day first above 
mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States 
wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion 
against the United States the following, to wit : 

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, 
Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, 
Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and 
Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, 
Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia 
(except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and 
also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth 
City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities 
of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are 
for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not 
issued. 

And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do 
order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said desig- 
nated States and parts of States are and henceforward shall be 
free, and that the executive government of the United States, in- 
cluding the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize 
and maintain the freedom of said persons. 

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to 
abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense ; and I 
recommend to them that in all cases when allowed they labor faith- 
fully for reasonable wages. 

And I further declare and make known that such persons of 
suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the 
United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places 
and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. 

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, 
warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke 
the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of 
Almighty God. 



THE WAR IN 1863 471 

Among slaveholders the proclamation gave force to the argument £5£?- 
that Lincoln was the abolitionist that the South had always con- - 
tended he was, and that the war was only a crusade against slavery. ™ t e h f ffect 
While the proclamation was treated as a vain and empty vaunt by Prociama- 
.Southern leaders, it nevertheless created considerable con sterna- South 
tion, for it was a blow aimed at the foundation of the Southern 
social system. Its principal effect was to incite the people of the 
Confederate States to a more strenuous resistance. President Davis 
on January 12, in a message to the Confederate Congress, declared 
that the proclamation "encouraged the slaves to a general assassi- 
nation of their masters." But there was no uprising. On the con- 
trary, the slaves continued to display the usual fidelity to their 
masters. The proclamation, however, did have the effect of securing 
some negroes for the Northern armies. At the close of 1863 Lincoln 
announced in his annual message that 100,000 former slaves were in Abroad"* 
the military service of the United States, and that 50,000 were 
actually bearing arms in the Union ranks. Abroad, especially in 
England, the proclamation cleared up doubts about the purposes of 
the war and created a better feeling toward the North. 

The War in 1863 

There is no good reason why the Confederacy should have laid 
down its arms on January 1, 1863, in accordance with the terms of 
the Emancipation Proclamation ; for at that time the prospects of 
the South were bright while a deep gloom overspread the North 
because of the terrible disaster to the Union forces at Fredericks- 
burg. And the gloom of the North was presently to become deeper. 

When Hooker took command of the Army of the Potomac it was vme 
disheartened and sulky and was dropping to pieces. Desertions 
were at the rate of two hundred in a day. Eighty -five thousand 
officers and men were absent from duty without leave. But Hooker 
was a good manager and a strict disciplinarian. By the beginning 
of April he had his army well organized and was ready for hard 
fighting. On May 1, with more than 100,000 men, he advanced 
upon Lee, who was at Chancellorsville with an army of 60,000 men. 
Lee, at great risk, divided his army, giving a portion of it to Jackson 
and ordering him to make a roundabout march and attack Hooker 
on his right. While the Union soldiers on the right were cooking 
their food, pitching their tents, and, in some cases, playing cards, 



Chancellors- 



472 



THE CIVIL WAR 



CHAP. 
XXIII 



"there came upon them a sudden irruption of rabbits, birds, deer, 
wild creatures of the woods fleeing from some danger behind." 
The danger from which the frightened creatures were fleeing was 
Stonewall Jackson, dashing through the woods with 26,000 men. 
He fell upon Hooker 's right wing and crushed it at a blow, throwing 
the entire Union army into confusion. But it was Jackson's last 
charge, for in the battle he received a mortal wound. 

Lee completed the work begun by Jackson and carried the Con- 
federates on to victory. The defeat at Chancellorsville was even 




The War in the East 



Gettysburg 



more disastrous than the defeat at Fredericksburg, and when the 
news of the battle reached the North, discouragement was seen 
written on every brow. Many men who were in earnest in their 
support of the war gave up all idea that the South could be con- 
quered. The darkest days for the Union were the days just after 
the Battle of Chancellorsville. 

But in a few short weeks the North was again buoyant with hope. 
After Chancellorsville Lee moved north, his purpose plainly being 
the invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Hooker thought that 
now was the time to strike the Confederate army in the rear and at 
the same time to take Richmond, thus "giving the rebellion a mortal 
blow." But he was warned by Lincoln against the danger of any 



THE WAR IN 1863 473 

movement that would put the Rappahannock River between himself ^hap. 

and Lee. ' ' I would not, ' ' he said, ' ' take any risk of being entangled 

upon the river like an ox jumped half over a fence, and liable to be 
torn by dogs in front and rear, without a fair chance to gore one 
way or kick the other. ' ' It was Lincoln 's idea that Lee 's army and 
not Richmond was now the sure objective point, and his view of the 
matter prevailed. As Lee moved northward Hooker marched in 
parallel columns, always keeping between his foe and Washington. 
The advance was the most exciting and spectacular event of the 
whole war. When the Confederate army entered Pennsylvania 
men took up the morning newspaper with sinking hearts. By the 
last of June Lee had advanced as far as Chambersburg and Carlisle 
and the roar of his cannon was shaking the houses of Harrisburg. 
The Union forces, now under the command of General Meade, were 
nearby ready to give battle. On July 1 fighting began at Gettys- 
burg and for three days shrapnel and cannister rained. At the 
end of the third day the Confederates gave up the fight. On the 
morning of the Fourth of July this word went out : ' ' The President 
announces to the country that news from the Army of the Potomac 
is such as to cover that army with the highest honor, to promise a 
great success to the cause of the Union, and to claim the condolence 
of all for the many gallant fallen, and that for this he especially 
desires that on this day He whose will, not ours, should ever be 
done, be everywhere remembered and reverenced with profoundest 
gratitude." After his defeat Lee led his army back into Virginia, 
where he remained undisturbed until the spring of 1864. 

A part of the battlefield of Gettysburg was dedicated as a ^^0" 
"national cemetery wherein to bury the bodies of the slain." Elo( i uence 
Lincoln was present at the dedication and delivered an address 
which the country instantly recognized as a masterpiece of elo- 
quence. As time passed the impression made by the speech deep- 
ened, and to-day all men praise it as one of the finest specimens of 
American oratory : 

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on 
this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to 
the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are en- 
gaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any 
nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are 
met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedi- 
cate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who 



474 



THE CIVIL WAR 



CHAP. 
XXIII 



here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether 
fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense 
we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this 
ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have 
consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The 
world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but 
it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, 
rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who 
fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us 
to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that 
from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause 
for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we 
here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; 
that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; 
and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, 
shall not perish from the earth. 



vicksburg The tide had now turned, Over the same wires that announced 
the result at Gettysburg flashed the thrilling news that Vicksburg 
had fallen. In the autumn of 1862 Grant had set out to capture 
this Gibraltar of the West, and by May, 1863, he had invested the 
city with fortifications and with a large army. For weeks he 
stormed the place with shot and shell, by day and by night. But 
the city would not surrender. "When the last pound of beef, 
bacon, and flour," said General Pemberton, who commanded the 
forces within the city, "the last grain of corn, the last cow and hog 
and horse and dog shall have been consumed, and the last man 
shall have perished in the trenches, then, and only then, will I sell 
Vicksburg." At last when food was gone and further resistance 
seemed useless, Vicksburg surrendered and 30,000 Confederate 
soldiers were made prisoners of war. The surrender occurred 
July 4. Five days later Port Hudson fell. The Mississippi was now 
open throughout its entire length. Its waters, as Lincoln said, 
flowed unvexed to the sea. By the capture of Vicksburg Grant cut 
the Confederacy in twain and thus accomplished one of the great 
purposes of the Union plan of campaign. The beef and grain 
of Texas would no longer assist in feeding the Confederate 
armies. 

There was another stronghold that must be taken before the 
Union forces could become the complete masters in the West. This 
was Chattanooga, the railroad center through which the Southern 



THE WAR IN 1863 



475 



army in the West cooperated with the army in Virginia. Grant 
had been desirous for the Union troops at Murfreesboro * to advance 
against Chattanooga early in the year, but Rosecrans was slow to 
move. In June, 1863, however, he gave battle to Bragg and by 
September had driven him from Chattanooga. Bragg took a posi- 
tion close by in Chickamauga where on September 19 and 20 there 
was a bloody battle in which the right wing of the Union army was 
driven from the field. The left wing, however, was held by General 
Thomas — ''the Rock of Chickamauga" — who by his firmness saved 
the army from a rout although he could not save it from defeat. 




Territory held by the Confederates at the close of 1863. 

After the reverse at Chickamauga the Union troops withdrew to 
Chattanooga, where they were surrounded by Bragg and for a time 
threatened with starvation. But Grant, who in October had been 
placed in command of the armies of the West, appeared upon the 
scene with a fresh force, and by November 25 the Union troops had 
fought their way out of Chattanooga and Bragg was in full retreat. 
The news reached the people of the North on Thanksgiving Day. 
The thanks could be genuine, for the victory was of incalculable 
value to the Union cause. It brought the entire Mississippi Valley 
under the control of Federal forces, and it opened a doorway 
through which the Union troops from the West might pour into 
Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. 
1 See p. 401 . 



CHAP. 
XXIII 



Chicka- 
mauga and 
Chatta- 
nooga 



476 



THE CIVIL WAR 



CHAP. 
XXIII 



Recapitula- 
tion 



Since the relief of Chattanooga was the last important event of 
the war in 1863 the results of the fighting in that year may now be 
recapitulated. Success for the most part had been on the side of 
the Union armies. In the East little progress had been made in 
the way of pushing back the Confederate lines. Eastern Virginia 
was still held by the Confederates and Richmond was still untaken. 
In the Mississippi Valley the capture of Vicksburg and of Chatta- 
nooga had resulted in spreading the Union power over new stretches 
of Confederate territory. By December, 1863, Louisiana, Arkansas, 
and Tennessee had been brought under Federal control, and Lincoln 
was taking measures to restore these three States to their old-time 
place in the Union. Indeed, the progress of the Union cause in 1863 
was so marked that men in the North quite generally believed that 
the power of the Confederacy was broken. "The success of our 
arms," said the secretary of war in December, 1863, "during the 
last year has enabled the department to make a reduction of over 
$200,000,000 in the war estimates for the ensuing fiscal year." 
"The crisis," said Lincoln in his December message, "which 
threatens to divide the friends of the Union is past. " Although this 
optimism was justified by events, there was nevertheless a vast 
amount of hard fighting yet to be done. 



The Close of the Struggle 



Grant Made When Congress met in December, 1863, a bill was brought in on 

Lieutenant- ° ' ° 

general ^ e g rs t ^ay f ^he session by E. B. Washburn e of Illinois to revive 
the military title of lieutenant-general — a title that had hitherto 
been held by only Washington and Scott — and empower the Presi- 
dent to raise to that rank the major-general who was most distin- 
guished for courage, skill, and ability. The bill passed on February 
29, 1864. Everybody knew that the honor was to be bestowed on 
the hero of Vicksburg and Chattanooga, and everybody believed he 
deserved it. Accordingly, Grant was called to Washington, where 
he met Lincoln for the first time at a crowded reception in the Whit p 
House. On March 9 the President, presenting the great soldier 
with the commission of lieutenant-general, said: "With this high 
honor devolves upon you also a corresponding responsibility. As 
the country herein trusts you, so under God it will sustain yon." 
Grant replied : "I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now 
devolving upon me. And I know that if they are met, it will be due 



THE CLOSE OF THE STRUGGLE 477 

to those noble armies that have fought on so many fields for our chap. 

common country and above all, to the favor of that Providence 

which leads both nations and men." 

Grant felt that the place where his new responsibilities must be "The war 

Now 

met was in the field, and not in Washington. "I suppose you don't Begins" 
mean to breakfast again till the war is over, ' ' said some one to him 
jocularly just after he had received his commission. "Not here I 
sha'n't," said Grant in a tone that implied displeasure with the 
ways of the capital. Getting away from Washington as quickly as 
possible, he went to the front and after a conference with Meade 
decided that his place was with the Army of the Potomac. Then 
proceeding to Nashville he conferred with Sherman, his successor 
as chief of the Western armies. When the conference was finished 
the two generals had agreed upon a campaign of concerted action 
between the armies of the East and those of the West. According 
to the plan Grant was to fight Lee in Virginia, while Sherman was 
to attack Johnston at Dalton, conquer Georgia, and move north- 
ward with the purpose of joining the Army of the Potomac in Vir- 
ginia and assisting Grant in the capture of Richmond. Both gen- 
erals were to begin their movements on the same day, and both 
were to keep on fighting continuously regardless of the season or 
weather. It was to be a concentric movement that was to press the 
life out of the Confederacy. The struggle was bound to be titanic, 
for on January 1, 1864, there were on the Union rolls about 860,000 
men, while the Confederate armies numbered about 480,000. "All 
that has gone before," said Sherman on March 12, 1864, "is mere 
skirmishing. The war now begins." 

On the appointed day, May 5, 1864, Sherman, leaving his head- |^™ an 
quarters in Chattanooga, began the most memorable march in the Atlanta 
history of the war. He moved against Johnston at Dalton and 
drove him from his position. He then pushed on, Johnston stub- 
bornly opposing his advance. Between Dalton and Atlanta the 
battles of Resaca, Dallas, Lost Mountain, and Kenesaw Mountain 
were fought. Before Atlanta was reached Johnston was relieved of 
his command and General J. B. Hood was appointed in his place. 
Hood tried hard to check Sherman but failed, and on September 2, 
1864, Sherman took possession of Atlanta. 1 

1 After withdrawing from Atlanta, Hood marched toward Nashville, hoping 
that Sherman would follow. But since Thomas was at Nashville, Sherman did 
not follow. Hood attacked Thomas at Nashville, but his army suffered a dis- 
astrous rout. 



478 



THE CIVIL WAR 



CHAP. 
XXIII 



Good News 
from the 
Navy 



Atlanta was a great railway center, and it furnished to the Con- 
federate armies supplies of ammunition and clothing. Its capture 
therefore was an event of the utmost importance to the Union cause. 
General Thomas, when he heard that the city had been taken, 
"snapped his fingers, whistled and almost danced." Sherman, 
determining that his victory should not be a fruitless one, destroyed 
everything in the city that might be of service to the Confederacy. 
Factories and public stores were put to the torch. There was to be left 
in the city nothing that would be worth defending with a garrison. 
"If the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty," he 
said, "I will answer that war is war, and not popularity-seeking. 
If they want peace they and their relatives must stop the war." 
The news of the fall of Atlanta was reinforced by tidings that 
came from the naval world. In August Farragut entered the 
harbor of Mobile, the last important Gulf port of the Confederacy, 
and, having carried the outer defenses, closed the port completely 
to Confederate commerce and intercourse. With New Orleans and 
Mobile now under the full control of Union forces, and Charleston 
closely besieged, the ports of Savannah and Wilmington were the 
only places remaining where there was any chance of running the 
blockade with much success. More exciting than the news from 
Mobile was the announcement that the notorious Alabama had been 
sunk. The circumstances under which this cruiser was constructed 
and placed at the service of the Confederacy have already been 
described. 1 The vessel, commanded by Raphael Semmes, cruised in 
the Atlantic, and although she was hotly pursued for nearly two 
years she baffled her enemies. Never before did a single ship work 
so much destruction upon commerce. Her captures numbered 
sixty-six merchant vessels. But at last she met with a dramatic 
fate. "Fatigued perhaps with his success, Semmes in the summer 
of 1864 brought his ship back to the English Channel, and while 
sheltering in Cherbourg, was challenged by the Kcarsarge, only 
slightly superior in size and armament. A fierce passage-at-arms 
took place off Cherbourg, June 19, 1864. Like fighting eagles the 
two ships circled at speed through mile after mile. The gunnery of 
the Kearsarge was more certain, though a shell lodged in her stern- 
post by the Alabama, had it exploded, would have been fatal. But 
it was the Alabama which sank at last beneath the waves." 2 

1 See p. 455. 

2 J. K. Hosnier, "Outcome of the Civil War" ; p. 179. 



THE CLOSE OF THE STRUGGLE 479 

Sherman, after his drastic operations at Atlanta, started on a CHAP - 

march across Georgia to Savannah in an even more relentless spirit. 

Because the Georgia farmers were supplying the Confederate sol- " From 

• it Atlanta 

diers with food he resolved to lay waste their country. To the thesea 
governor of the State, whom he hoped to win over to the Union side, 
he sent a message, saying, "If you remain inert, I will be compelled 
to go ahead and devastate the State in its whole length and 
breadth." To Grant he had telegraphed: "Until we can repopu- 
late Georgia, it is useless for us to occupy it ; but the utter destruc- 
tion of its roads, horses, and people will cripple their military 
resources. I can make the march and make Georgia howl." On 
November 16 with 60,000 men he started on the famous march 
"from Atlanta to the sea," the bands playing and the soldiers 
singing "John Brown's Body Lies A-Moldering in the Grave." 
The army moved in four columns by four parallel roads. As it 
advanced it cut telegraph wires, tore up railroad tracks, burned 
bridges, and foraged liberally. In its path it laid waste a belt of 
country sixty miles wide at its widest part and three hundred miles 
long. The thoroughness of the devastation was very well described 
by a negro, who, when asked by Sherman for information .regarding 
operations on the right wing, said: "First there come along some 
cavalrymen and they burned the depot; then come along some 
infantrymen and they tore up the track, and burned it ; and just 
before I left they set fire to the well. ' ' When the march was at an 
end its results were summarized by Sherman as follows: "We 
have consumed the corn and fodder in the region of country thirty 
miles on either side of a line from Atlanta to Savannah as also the 
sweet potatoes, cattle, hogs, sheep and poultry, and have carried 
away more than 10,000 horses and mules as well as a countless 
number of their slaves. I estimate the damage done to the State of 
Georgia and its military resources at $100,000,000; at least $20,- 
000,000 of which has inured to our advantage and the remainder is 
simple waste and destruction. This may seem a hard species of 
warfare but it brings the sad realities of war home to those who 
have been directly or indirectly instrumental in involving us in its 
attendant calamities." It is pleasant to record that Sherman in 
after years could write, "I never heard of any cases of murder or 
rape." So far as fighting was concerned the march was without 
incident. Nothing impeded the progress of the army, and on 
December 21 it entered Savannah in triumph. News of the victory 



480 



THE CIVIL WAR 



CHAP. 
XXIII 



Grant and 
Lee 



was received at Washington on the evening of Christmas day. "I 
beg to present you," said Sherman in a despatch to Lincoln, "as a 
Christmas gift the city of Savannah." 

Sherman remained in Savannah about a month and then, with 
his army stronger than it was when he left Atlanta, moved north- 
ward to join Grant in Virginia. By the end of March, 1865, he had 
become master of a large part of South Carolina and had reached 
the center of North Carolina. 

While Sherman was conducting these operations in Georgia and 
the Carolinas great things were happening in Virginia. On the day 




Territory held by the Confederates at the close of 1864 

agreed upon, May 4, 1864, Grant, with 130,000 men set out to cap- 
ture Richmond, and ten months of sickening carnage followed. 
He crossed the Rappahannock River and plunged into the country 
known as the Wilderness, where he met Lee with 70,000 men. The 
fighting here was fierce and the loss of life frightful. Emerging 
from the Wilderness Grant by a flank march engaged the Con- 
federates at Spottsylvania Court-house, where he fought for five 
days, losing thousands of his men, but failing to defeat the enemy. 
Grant was going to win by incessant pounding. In this policy of 
persistence he was supported by the President. "Hold on," said 
Lincoln in his quaint fashion in a despatch to Grant, "hold on 
with a bull-dog grip and choke and chew as much as possible." 
From Spottsylvania Grant pushed forward and attacked the Con- 



'■■■■■: ■■■■.v.v.Sj, ■■ : -.-,\«: 





THE CLOSE OF THE STRUGGLE 481 

federates at Cold Harbor only to be beaten back with terrible CHAP - 



slaughter. But winning or losing he pressed on. He hurried past 
Richmond with the view of capturing Petersburg, which was sim- 
ply a back door through which the Confederate capital might be 
reached. But Petersburg had been reached first by Lee, and a long 
siege was necessary before it could be taken. 

While Grant was before Petersburg the Shenandoah Valley was Sheridan in 

r» tt-it ti^m t ne Valley 

the scene ot stirring events. In July Lee ordered General Early to 
move down the valley with 20,000 men and threaten Washington, 
hoping that in this way he would draw Grant from the siege of 
Petersburg. Early made a bold dash down the valley and at one 
time was within six miles of Washington. He even invaded Penn- 
sylvania and set fire to the town of Chambersburg. General Philip 
Sheridan was sent after Early with orders from Grant to "go in." 
Sheridan "went in" with a vengeance. He defeated Early at 
Winchester and sent him "whirling up the valley." He then laid 
the beautiful valley waste : the devastation was so complete that 
"a crow flying over the country would need to carry his provisions 
with him." 

Early was quickly reinforced after his defeat at Winchester, and 
during Sheridan's absence he attacked the Union army at Cedar 
Creek, defeated it, and sent it fleeing down the valley in confusion. 
Sheridan at the time was at Winchester, thirteen miles away, and 
hearing 

The terrible grumble and rumble and roar, 

Telling the battle was on once more, 

put spurs to his horse and galloped toward his army. As he dashed 
along, he met some of his men running from the enemy. To the 
fugitives he cried out: "Never mind, boys, we are all right! We 
will whip them yet ! ' ' These words of encouragement caused the 
soldiers to turn and follow their leader, who renewed the battle 
against Early and defeated him. 

After Sheridan had finished his work in the Shenandoah Valley 
he returned to Petersburg to assist Grant. The siege of the strong- 
hold continued for several months. Grant drew his lines ever 
tighter and tighter, and at last on April 3, 1865, Petersburg fell, 
and with it fell Richmond. 

The fall of Richmond marked the end of the war and the downfall Appomattox 
of the Confederacy. Lee, after leaving the city he had defended so 
bravely for nearly four years, attempted to break through the Union 



482 THE CIVIL WAR 

xxnF* lines ; but he was checked at every step by a greatly superior force, 
and there was nothing for him to do but lay down his arms. On 
April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court-house, he surrendered to Grant 
his army of 28,000 men. As he took leave of his soldiers he said : 
"Men, we have fought through the war together. I have done the 
best I could for you. ' ' Grant in his hour of triumph was courteous 
and kind. He did not require Lee to give up his sword ; he allowed 
Lee's soldiers to keep their horses, saying they would need them 
to work their little farms ; he gave the conquered army enough food 
to last five days. 

After the fall of Richmond, President Davis, with his cabinet 
and clerks, went to Charlotte, North Carolina; but the surrender 
of Johnston to Sherman near Raleigh on April 26 made it neces- 
sary for the Confederate Government to disband and flee. Davis 
made his way to Georgia, but was captured at Irwinville on May 
10, 1865. He was sent to Fortress Monroe, in Virginia, where he 
was held a prisoner until 1867, when he was released on bail. 
Demobiiiza- At the close of the war there were altogether about 1,000,000 
men in the Union ranks. Immediately after the surrender of Lee, 
however, demobilization began, and between May and November 
about 800,000 men left the colors to become private citizens. The 
rapid mustering out of the troops was a thing to be expected, for in 
the United States a great army becomes an eyesore the moment the 
fighting is over. The disbandment of the regiments was effected 
without friction or difficulty. "The change in conditions," says 
Rhodes, "was made as if it were the most natural transformation 
in the world. These soldiers were merged into the peaceful life of 
the communities without interruption to industry, without disturb- 
ance of social and moral order." 

Suggested Readings 

Fort Donelson and Shiloh : Ropes, Vol. II, pp. 3-96. 

Vicksburg: Hitchcock, pp. 295-305. 

Chancellorsville : Ropes, Vol. Ill, pp. 149-228. 

Emancipation : Rhodes, Vol. IV, pp. 157-1G3 ; Davis, Vol. II, pp. 169-187. 

Gettysburg: Ropes, Vol. Ill, pp. 402^99. 

The downfall of the Confederacy : Davis, Vol. II, pp 445-450 

The Civil War : F. L. Taxson. 



XXIV 
WAR TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 

HAVING reviewed in brief fashion the military operations of 
the Civil War, we may now take a glance at the industrial 
and political life of the period. How was the war supported? 
What were the politicians doing while the soldiers ' were at the 
front ? What, in brief, was the civilian background of the struggle ? 



Keeping the Ranks Filled 
The total enlistments during the Civil War on the Union side The Number 

of Union 

for the whole period numbered about 2,500,000, a proportion of the Troops 
military population much greater than that which was brought into 
service in our war with Germany. The number of troops furnished 
by each of the several States is shown in the following table : 



Alabama 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Dakota 

Delaware 

District of Columbia 

Florida 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

Michigan 

Minnesota 



2,576 

8,289 
15,725 

4,903 

51,937 

206 

11,236 

11,912 

1,290 

255,037 

193,748 

75,797 

18,069 

51,743 

5,324 
64,973 
33,995 
122,785 
85,479 
23,913 



Mississippi .... 

Missouri , 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire 

New Jersey 

New Mexico 

New York 

Ohio 

Oregon , 

Pennsylvania . . , 
Rhode Island . . . 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Vermont 

Washington 
West Virginia . . 
Wisconsin 



545 

100,616 

3,157 

1,080 

32,930 

67,500 

6,561 

409,561 

304,814 

1,810 

315,017 

19,321 

31,092 

1,965 

32,540 

964 

31,872 

91,029 



Total 2,494,592. 



4S3 



484 



WAR TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 



CHAP. 
XXIV 



The 
Volunteer 



Conscrip- 
tion 



Opposition 
to Conscrip- 
tion 



How were the armies raised and how were the ranks kept filled ? 
Broadly speaking, on the Union side the Avar was fought entirely 
by volunteers coming forward from civil life without experience in 
the art of war. The fighting units consisted almost entirely of the 
volunteer regiments of the States, for at no time from Sumter to 
Appomattox did the regular army reach an aggregate strength of 
25,000 men. The volunteer learned rapidly and whether as a 
private or officer he generally acquitted himself well, although 
volunteer officers sometimes proved to be failures. "We tried," 
says General Sherman, "about every system known — voluntary 
enlistments, the draft, and bought substitutes, — and I think that 
all officers of experience will confirm my assertion that the men 
who enlisted at the outbreak of the war were the best ; better than 
the conscript, and far better than the bought substitute. ' ' Yet the 
volunteer system had to be supplemented by measures of compul- 
sion. By March, 1863, owing to discouragement, war weariness, 
and other causes, volunteering had fallen off to such an extent that 
it seemed necessary for the Government to resort to the draft. 
Accordingly the Conscription Act was passed. Under this law, the 
first of its kind in our history, all persons subject to military duty 
— that is all able-bodied men between the ages of twenty and forty- 
five — were to be enrolled, and in localities where quotas could not 
be filled by voluntary enlistment conscription was to be brought 
into use. Any person drafted could furnish a substitute or pay 
$300 to the Government as an exemption. As a method of keeping 
the ranks filled conscription in the North was virtually a failure, 
for the number of soldiers secured in this way was insignificant 
when compared with the number of volunteers. In the South resort 
was had to conscription much earlier than in the North. In April, 
1862, the Confederate Congress passed a law making all citizens 
between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five liable to military duty. 
Later all males between eighteen and fifty-five were conscripted, 
and before the war closed almost the entire adult male population 
of the South could be legally called upon either to enlist in the 
army or to assist in the raising of supplies. In the last days of the 
war the Confederate Congress passed an act enrolling slaves in the 
Confederate army, each State to furnish its quota, but not exceed- 
ing one quarter of its slaves. 

The execution of the conscription laws was attended with a great 
deal of trouble both at the North and at the South. In North 



KEEPING THE RANKS FILLED 485 

Carolina where the opposition to compulsory service was bitter, c ?ap. 

the legislature of the State formally protested against the policy 

of conscription and enacted a law in direct contravention of the 
Confederate act. In the North opposition to the draft was wide- 
spread. In Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Ohio there was forcible 
resistance, and the enrolment officers in some places were mur- 
dered while in discharge of their duties. In New York City, when 
officers undertook to enlist men by means of the draft, rioting 
began, and for four clays the city was at the mercy of a mob. 
Much of the unpopularity of the Conscription Act was due to the 
provision which allowed a man to escape service by paying $300 
into the Treasury of the Government. This was denounced as an 
unworthy device by which the rich man was enabled to transfer 
his burden of military duty to the back of the poor man. 

One of the devices for keeping the ranks filled by volunteering Bounties 
was the bounty. This form of pecuniary inducement was held out jumping" y 
to the poor man by the Government, by States, by counties, and by 
municipalities. For example, in "The New York Times" of 
February 15, 1864, was this advertisement: "30,000 volunteers 
wanted. The following are the pecuniary inducements offered: 
County bounty, cash down, $300 ; State bounty, $75 ; United States 
bounty to new recruits, $302, additional to veteran soldiers $100." 
In addition to these bounties, amounting in all to $677 (or $777), 
the soldier enlisting would receive $16 a month with clothing and 
rations. The bounty system brought into existence the crime 
known as "bounty -jumping." "These pickpockets and vaga- 
bonds," says Rhodes, "would enlist, take whatever bounty was 
paid in cash, desert when opportunity offered, change their names, 
go to another district or State, reenlist, collect another bounty, 
and go on playing the same trick until they were caught or until 
such chances of gain were no longer available." One man was 
reported as having jumped his bounty thirty-two times, thereby 
securing for himself a small fortune. 

Yet in spite of draft evasions, desertions, and bounty-jumpers, 
the ranks were not only kept full but the armies of the North and 
those of the South as well continued to grow and grow until they 
reached vast proportions. On January 1, 1863, the Union army 
contained over 900,000 men and the Confederate army nearly 
700,000. When the war closed there were in the Union ranks more 
than 1,000,000 soldiers ready for duty. These figures, when com- 



486 



WAR TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 



CHAP. 
XXIV 



pared with those showing the total military population, 1 indicate 
in the clearest manner that each of the warring sections was in the 
fullest sympathy with the cause for which it fought. 



Keeping Money in the War Chest 



The Cost of 
the War 



An Empty 
Treasury 



A War 
Tariff 



The cost of the war in lives was enormous. On the Union side 
more than 360,000 men were killed in battle or died of wounds 
or diseases. How many gave up their lives for the Confederacy 
cannot be accurately stated, but it is likely that the South suffered 
as heavily as the North. The cost in money was something like 
$8,000,000,000. This was proportionately a far greater drain upon 
the nation's resources than that produced by the war with Ger- 
many. The cost to the North was about $5,000,000,000. Including 
the loss to masters caused by the emancipation of slaves, who were 
valued at about $2,000,000,000, the cost of the war to the South 
was in the neighborhood of $3,000,000,000. Never in any war that 
had ever been fought had there been, in the same length of time, a 
national expenditure so great as that which was made by the United 
States during the period of the Civil War. 

The National Treasury at the beginning of the conflict was 
virtually empty. Luckily the secretary of the treasury was a man 
who could grapple successfully with difficult financial problems. 
In one way and another Chase managed to keep enough money in 
the war chest. In order to raise the enormous sums required it was 
necessary for him to resort to every expedient known to public 
finance. Unusual taxes had to be levied ; money had to be bor- 
rowed by issuing bonds and short-term notes ; large amounts of 
paper money had to be put into circulation. In the four years of 
the war Congress raised by taxation $667,000,000; it borrowed 
more than $2,500,000,000; and it issued more than $450,000,000 
in paper money (greenbacks). 

The only national tax to which Americans were accustomed when 
Chase entered upon his duties was that which was laid upon im- 
ports. In the closing days of Buchanan's administration a law 
known as the Morrill Tariff Bill had increased the duties on certain 
articles. This was not, however, a war tariff, for the war had not 
yet begun. In July, 1862, the imposts were materially increased 
and in 1864 they were raised still higher. Under the law of 1864 

1 See p. 456. 



KEEPING MONEY IN THE WAR CHEST 487 

the average rate on dutiable articles was 47 per cent. But the ™j A v P- 

revenue derived from the tariff could only be a drop in the bucket. 

New taxes must be imposed. Coincident with the raising of the 

tariff in 1862 came the internal revenue tax, which in the earlv The Internal 

' J Revenue 

days of the Republic had been so hateful to the people. The inter- Tax 
nal revenue measure of 1862 included rates upon such liquors as 
spirits, ales, beer, and tobacco; licenses upon occupations; duties 
upon manufactures, upon carriages, yachts, billiard-tables; upon 
slaughtered cattle, hogs, and sheep; upon railroads, steamboats, 
and ferry-boats; railroad bonds, banking institutions, and insur- 
ance companies; upon salaries and pay of officers in the service of 
the United States. Indeed we may say, using the language of 
Sydney Smith, that the law imposed a tax upon virtually "every 
article which enters into the mouth, or covers the back, or is placed 
under the foot; upon everything which is pleasant to see, hear, 
feel, smell or taste; upon warmth, light, and locomotion; upon 
the sauces which pamper man's appetite and the drug that restores 
him to health; upon the poor man's salt and the rich man's spice.'* 
An income tax, novel to the American taxpayer, was also imposed. 
At first this tax was 3 per cent, with an exemption of $800 ; but 
the rate increased until incomes between $600 and $5000 were taxed 
at 5 per cent and above $5000 at 10 per cent. 
But taxation at its heaviest could hardly more than cover the opening the 

* Fountains 

bottom of the bucket. To meet the expenditures the fountains of of credit 
credit had to be opened. War, besides meaning death and devasta- 
tion, also means debt. Borrowing began in earnest just before the 
first Battle of Manassas when Chase on July 17, 1861, was author- 
ized by Congress to sell bonds to the amount of nearly $250,000,000, 
the interest to be 7 per cent. For those days the negotiation of 
such a sale was a transaction of gigantic proportions, yet by the 
end of November the secretary had borrowed nearly $200,000,000. 
The sale of the bonds was managed by the banks of New York, 
Philadelphia, and Boston, but the people were given an opportunity 
to purchase. The response was gratifying to the Government. In 
all parts of the North patriotic citizens invested in bonds largely 
and to the extent of their ability. "My wife and I," said Asa 
Gray in October, "have scraped up $550, all we can scrape, and 
lent it to the United States." Jay Cooke of Philadelphia kept his 
bank open from eight in the morning till five in the afternoon in 
order that working-men might invest. Writing to Chase in Sep- 



488 



WAR TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 



CHAP. 
XXIV 



tember, Cooke gives the following description of a scene in his 
office: 

This has been a hard day. I have been at it from 8 a. m. till 
after 5 — a continual stream, clergy, draymen, merchants, girls, 
boys and all kinds of men and women. Some of our citizens who 
came in — I mean those of mark — went out almost with tears in 
their eyes, so overjoyed at the patriotic scene. We gave the day 
almost exclusively to smaller subscribers, 106 subscribed to-day 
and it 's no small job to explain to so many ignorant people the 
whys and wherefores. I am glad to say that they all went away 
happy and delighted and we bagged over $70,000 as the day's work. 



The Legal 
Tender Act 



Exacting tax-gatherers and willing lenders combined could not 
furnish enough sound money to meet the rapidly mounting budget. 
The fighting had not more than fairly begun when statesmen saw 
that this war, like all others, must be fought largely with paper. 
Chase, therefore, reluctantly asked Congress for an issue of United 
States notes with legal tender power. Accordingly the Legal 
Tender Act of February, 1862, was passed, authorizing an issue of 
$150,000,000 in notes which were to be received as lawful money 
and legal tender for all debts public and private, except customs 
duties and interest on the public debt, which were to be payable in 
coin. This was the first paper money law ever passed by the 
Federal Congress. Never before had a Federal statute made any- 
thing but gold and silver coin a legal tender, and there was a great 
deal of grumbling about this revolution in finance. Morrill of 
Vermont spoke of the bill as "a measure not blessed by one sound 
precedent, and damned by all." But the measure was justified on 
the ground that the salvation of the country depended upon it. 
"Rather than yield to revolutionary force," said John Sherman, 
"I would use revolutionary force." As the war proceeded other 
issues of United States notes were made, and before the struggle 
ended there were more greenbacks — as the notes were popularly 
called — in circulation than all other forms of money combined. In 
August, 1865, one of the items in a statement of the national debt 
was $433,000,000 in non-interest-bearing legal tenders. With the 
appearance of the greenbacks came violent fluctuations in cur- 
rency values. The paper money, always below par, rose and fell 
with the fortunes of war. Generally a dollar of the paper currency 



KEEPING MONEY IN THE WAR CHEST 489 

was worth from sixty to eighty cents in gold, although in the sum- chap. 

mer of 1864 the depreciation was so great that a dollar of the 

greenback money was worth only about forty cents in gold. 

The greenbacks of the Civil War are still with us, although when The 

National 

they were issued no one contemplated their retention as a per- Banking 

Act 

manent part of our currency system. In February, 1863, Chase 
succeeded in securing the passage of a bill which he hoped would 
speedily eliminate the greenback. This was the National Banking 
Act, designed to furnish the people with a safe and uniform cur- 
rency. In the debate on this measure Sherman, alluding to the 
greenbacks, said they "could be used only during the war. The 
very moment that peace comes, all this circulation . . . will at 
once be banished. The issue of Government notes can only be a 
temporary measure." There was other money to be eliminated by 
the National Banking Act. This was the currency issued by the 
State banks. At the outbreak of the war the notes of State banks 
amounted in all to about $200,000,000. A considerable portion of 
this was good money, but much of it was worthless. Chase at the 
outset in 1861 asked Congress for a national currency law, but the 
power of the State banks was enormous and he had to wait. The 
law which he secured in 1863 allowed banks to organize under a 
Federal charter, and buy United States bonds and deposit them in 
the United States Treasury, there to be held as security for the 
bank notes, which might be issued up to 80 per cent of the par 
value of the bonds. The interest on the bonds held as security was 
to be paid to the bank depositing them. Thus the national bank 
received upon its invested capital two increments of interest, one 
from its bonds in the Treasury and the other from its notes lent to 
borrowers. The act was soon amended allowing an issue of notes to 
the extent of 90 per cent of the value of the deposited bonds. In 
1865 Congress went a step further in the encouragement of the 
national bank by laying a tax of 10 per cent on the circulation of 
the State banks. This had the desired effect : the State banks, 
finding it unprofitable to pay the tax, redeemed and canceled their 
outstanding notes and ceased to issue new ones. A monopoly of 
issuing notes was thus given to the national banks. Favored by 
the Government in so many ways, the new system was bound to 
flourish. At the end of 1865 nearly 1600 national banks had been 
organized with a total circulation of over $200,000,000. This 



490 



WAR TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 



The Finance 

of the 

Confederacy raised 



national bank currency, being secured by government bonds and 
regarded therefore as sound as the Government itself, passed at par 
throughout the length and breadth of the land. 

In the South sufficient funds for the war chest could not be 
The Confederate Government had relied upon Southern 
cotton to bring the necessary money, but after the blockade became 
effective cotton was a valueless thing : it could neither be manufac- 
tured nor sold. The South, therefore, had to resort to methods 
similar to those adopted by the North. It levied a general tax on 
all property in the Confederacy, but the total Confederate revenue 
during the four years of warfare was probably equivalent to not 
more than $100,000,000. The Confederate Government also at- 
tempted to borrow, and it succeeded in selling some of its bonds at 
home and in Europe. Yet the money raised in this way was insig- 
nificant. From first to last the chief reliance of the South was upon 
issues of paper money. By the autumn of 1863, $700,000,000 of 
Confederate paper was in circulation, and the issues were appearing 
with such rapidity that the Confederate secretary of the treasury 
himself could not tell how many notes were printed. Before the 
war closed the volume of Confederate paper was considerably more 
than a billion dollars. For a short time the paper money circulated 
at its face value, but depreciation soon set in. In July, 1863, a 
gold dollar would exchange for nine dollars of the Confederate 
money ; in July, 1864, it would exchange for twenty dollars ; and 
in March, 1865, it would exchange for sixty dollars. In the very 
last days of the war the Confederate paper money was worthless 
and the Confederate treasury was bankrupt. 



Industrial and Social Conditions 



The breakdown of the financial system of the Confederacy was 
accompanied by distressing economic conditions. As the blockade 
grew tighter and tighter the trade of the South was gradually 
strangled. Clothes, medicines, shoes, machinery, paper could be 
secured only at great risk and in quantities that were painfully 
inadequate. The mastery of the Mississippi by Union forces closed 
the channel through which the Southern people were accustomed 
to receive their food supplies. The result of this isolation was that 
the commercial and industrial system of the South gradually dis- 
integrated. By 1863 there were many signs that the Confederacy 



INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 491 

was badly out at her elbows. ' ' There was not enough crude iron to xxnf" 

keep at work the few foundries which the government did create 

and very soon rails and old iron of all varieties had to be utilized. 
Cloth became scarce. All materials for buttons gave out, and one 
prominent lady appeared at a Richmond ball in 1864 in a coarse 
homespun dress with buttons of gourd seeds. Paper and ink be- 
came particularly difficult to obtain, and the executive correspond- 
ence was in later years written on old envelopes split open. ' ' * 

In their efforts to meet the effects of the blockade the Southern JK™™ 
people grew self-reliant as never before. Planters contrived to tan southerner 
leather for making harness, army saddles, and coarse shoes. To 
meet the demand for leather the hides of horses, mules, hogs, and 
dogs were utilized. The few cotton-mills of the South, although 
they were kept running day and night, failed utterly in their 
attempts to supply the needs of the people, so that household indus- 
try revived. "Every household," says Miss P. A. Hague, in her 
instructive book, "A Blockaded Family," now became a miniature 
factory in itself, with its cotton cards, spinning wheels, warping 
frames, looms and so on. Wherever one went, the hum of the 
spinning wheel and the clang of the batten of the loom was borne 
on the ear. . . . That the slaves might be well clad the owners 
kept, according to the number of slaves owned, a number of negro 
women carding and spinning, and had looms running all the time." 
In order to get food a diversified agriculture was necessary. Before 
the war cotton was the only important crop to which the planter 
would give his attention, but now vegetables and cereals of all 
kinds were planted. "When the blockade had inclosed the South," 
says Miss Hague, ' ' our planters set about in earnest to grow wheat, 
rye, rice, oats, corn, peas, pumpkins, and ground peas. . . . Many 
planters who had never grown wheat before were surprised at the 
great yield of grain to the acreage sown." But the brave endeavors 
of the planters could not repair the damage of the economic break- 
down produced by the loss of the cotton trade. 

In the North the commercial and industrial situation was entirely ™o Sperity 
different. Here the war acted as a stimulus to prosperity. "Among jj*j** 
the many striking features of the Civil War there is none more 
extraordinary than the fact that throughout the whole struggle the 
Northern States continued to increase in population and industrial 
power. Despite the fact that out of a population of about 22,000,- 

x R. G. Usher, "The Rise of the American People" ; p. 325. 



492 



WAR TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 



CHAP. 
XXIV 



Why the 
North Was 
Prosperous 



000 the total of enlistments and reenlistments was over 2,500,000, 
and that at the close of the war 1,000,000 men were enrolled in the 
Union armies, the population increased by at least 3,000,000 between 
1860 and 1865, while over 4,500,000 acres of the public domain 
were taken up by settlers. Despite the fact that the grain States 
sent hundreds of thousands of men to the front, the annual pro- 
duction of cereals increased. For example, Indiana, which had 
produced about 15,000,000 bushels of wheat in 1859, produced 
20,000,000 in 1863, although 124,000 of her sons (one tenth of the 
total population of 1860) were in the Union ranks. Despite the 
great demand for food-products to supply the army, the exports of 
wheat and provision increased even more than their production. 
. . . The demands for products were such, that despite the burdens 
of taxation and the disorganization of the finances, many new 
industries were established on a firm basis. ' ' x 

The causes of this prosperity are not hard to discover. For one 
thing, the war itself was good for business. The Government made 
enormous purchases and paid high prices for everything it bought. 
"The demands for uniforms and blankets for the armies guaran- 
teed an almost exhaustless market for cloth. Mill after mill ran 
month after month exclusively upon goods for the armies in the 
field. Hundreds of new establishments were built. All paid great 
dividends upon the capital invested." Still greater was the 
stimulus that was imparted to the steel and iron industry. The 
production of pig-iron increased from 300,000 tons in 1861 to 
1,000,000 tons in 1864. Invention came forward and gave to 
industry many new and remarkable kinds of labor-saving ma- 
chinery. The shoe industry especially took on new life when the 
McKay sewing-machine made it possible for one man to sew the 
uppers to the soles a hundred times faster than they could be 
sewed by a pair of human hands in the old-fashioned way. But the 
thing that contributed most to war time prosperity was the growth 
of our agricultural interests. Here everything seemed favorable to 
increased production and financial gain. Improved agricultural 
machinery worked for the men who left the fields for the war, and 
more than made up for the loss of their labor. ' ' The reaper, ' ' said 
Stanton, "releases our young men to do battle for the Union and 
at the same time keeps up the supply of the nation's bread." The 
war, it has been said, was won by McCormick's invention. Toilers 

1 "The Cambridge Modern History"; Vol. VII, p. 696. 



INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 493 

were lured from Europe to the farms of the West by a favorable xxnf' 

immigration law. Settlers by taking advantage of the Homestead 

Act — to be considered more fully hereafter x — could secure their 
land for a song. Under such conditions the acreage of course in- 
creased enormously. But there was a market for all the grain the 
farmers raised. To the increased demand of the huge armies was 
added an extra call from abroad due to bad harvests. England in 
1862 really needed our grain more than she needed our cotton. In 
the second year of the war the total exportation of American wheat 
reached 60,000,000 bushels. Before the war was over it was seen 
that the actual king in America was not the cotton of the Southern 
planter but the grain of the Western farmer. 

Where the basic industry was so flourishing there could be little a Picture of 

^ ° War-time 

depression anywhere. "The picture of war time agriculture," says Progress 
E. D. Fite, "is one of ceaseless activity and progress, of new things 
done on a larger scale than ever before." "Look over these 
prairies," said a speaker in Illinois in 1864, "and observe every- 
where the life and activity prevailing. See the railroads pressed 
beyond their capacity with the freights of our people ; the metrop- 
olis of the State rearing its stately blocks with a rapidity almost 
fabulous, and whitening the Northern lakes with the sails of its 
commerce ; every smaller city, town, village, and hamlet within 
our borders all astir with improvement; every factory, mill, and 
machine shop running with its full complement of hands; the hum 
of industry in every household; more acres of fertile land under 
culture, fuller granaries, and more prolific crops than ever before; 
in short, observe that this State and this people of Illinois are 
making more rapid progress in population, development, wealth, 
education, and in all the arts of peace, than in any former period, 
and then realize, if you can, that all this has occurred and is 
occurring in the midst of a war the most stupendous ever prosecuted 
among men. ' ' 2 
In the train of this war time prosperity there followed the usual £ ra "? s - . 

x r J Profiteering, 

brood of war time evils. In the eyes of contemporaries government and 
circles presented an orgy of profiteering, corruption, and dissolute 
living. Said "The Springfield Republican" in May, 1864: "It is 
a sad, a shocking picture of life in Washington which our corre- 

1 See p. 541. 

2 Quoted in E. D. Fite's "Social and Industrial Conditions during the Civil 
War" ; p. 23. 



491 



WAR TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 



CHAP. 

x x i v 



Contraband 
Trade 



spondents are giving us. A bureau of the Treasury Department 
made a house of seduction and prostitution. The necessities of poor 
and pretty women made the means of their debauchery by high 
government officials. Members of Congress putting their mistresses 
into clerkships in the departments. . . . The Government cheated 
in contracts and openly robbed by its employees. Writes our most 
careful correspondent, a long resident at the capital — Washington 
was never quite so villainously corrupt as at the present time. In 
the worst days of Southern rule, of slavery, there was not half the 
corruption there is now. We do not doubt this is strictly true." 
"No one can be blind," said Robert C. Winthrop, "to the reckless 
extravagance, the dishonest contracts, the gambling speculations 
. . . which have followed with still accelerating steps in the train 
of the terrible struggle with which we are engaged." In making 
its purchases for war the Government was cheated outrageously. 
A government contract was looked upon as being a passport to a 
fortune. "Men," said J. R. Lowell, "have striven to make the 
blood of our martyrs the seed of wealth." One committee uncov- 
ered frauds of $17,000,000 in $50,000,000 worth of contracts. 
According to an estimate made by a careful investigator more than 
$700,000,000 "was paid to public robbers, or worse than wasted, 
through corrupt methods." 

In the mad strife for gain considerations of patriotism sometimes 
counted for little. Northern merchants carried on with the South 
contraband trade in cotton in spite of the fact that one of the main 
objects of the Union campaign was to prevent cotton from getting 
out of the South. The mill owners of the North wanted cotton for 
their mills and were willing to pay exorbitant prices for it, even 
though to assist in marketing it was giving aid and comfort to the 
enemy. The Government at Washington offered but a feeble re- 
sistance to the traffic, but the Northern generals in the field were 
strongly opposed to it. "My own opinion is," wrote Sherman in 
October, 1862, ' ' that all trade should be absolutely prohibited to all 
districts until the military commander notifies the Government that 
the rebellion is suppressed in that district. . . . The great profit 
now made is converting everybody into rascals and it makes me 
ashamed of my countrymen every time I have to examine a cotton 
or horse case." Since cotton could be bought within the lines of 
the Confederacy for fifteen cents a pound and sold in Boston for a 
dollar a pound the profit was so enticing that many men in respon- 



INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 495 

sible positions yielded to the temptation of carrying on the illicit xxfv* 

trade. As a result, not only food but bullets and powder found 

their way to the Confederate armies. "The question of profit," 
said Lincoln in condemnation of the trade, "controls all, regard- 
less of whether the cotton seller is loyal or rebel, or whether he is 
paid in corn-meal or gunpowder." 

In 1864 Congress, recognizing the absurdity of furnishing the 
enemy with supplies that enabled him to prolong the war, passed a 
law placing the proper restrictions upon the trade. But before 
this action was taken the South had succeeded in selling more 
cotton to the North by the overland routes than it could to Great 
Britain by running the blockade. While the trade yielded enor- 
mous profits it nevertheless gave rise to charges of corruption that 
must have made the cheeks of some men high in authority tingle 
with shame. A joint committee of Congress reported in March, 
1865, that the trade had been of no benefit to our Government. "It 
has tended to the demoralization and corruption of the army and 
navy. ... It is believed to have led to the prolongation of the 
war. ' ' 

If the illegal cotton trade tended to prolong the struggle it did Li^g 0US 
something that was not altogether displeasing to the profiteers and 
to thousands of the newly rich who for the first time in their lives 
were tasting the joys of luxurious living. As the war went on and 
wealth piled up luxury flaunted itself as never before in our his- 
tory. In the eyes of an English observer — the correspondent of 
the London "Times," — the indulgence in pleasure and extrava- 
gance was simply shocking. "They have the money, well or ill 
gotten, and must enjoy it. ' ' Never before were the importations of 
foreign finery so heavy. "We are clothed in purple and fine linen," 
said "The Chicago Tribune," "wear the richest laces and jewels 
and fare sumptuously every day." These words were written on 
the very day of the bloodiest fighting at Spottsylvania. It does not 
seem, however, that the awful slaughter caused widespread mourn- 
ing among the people or diverted them from their worldly ways of 
living. Said the New York "Independent" on June 25, 1865: 
' ' Who at the North would ever think of war, if he had not a friend 
in the army, or did not read the newspapers? Go into Broadway, 
and we will show you what is meant by the word ' Extravagance. ' 
Ask Stewart about the demand for camel's hair shawls, and he will 
say 'monstrous.' Ask Tiffany what kind of diamonds and pearls 



496 



WAR TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 



are called for. He will answer ' the prodigious, ' ' as near hen 's egg 
size as possible,' 'price no object.' What kind of carpetings are 
now wanted? None but 'extra.' Brussels and velvets are now 
used from basement to garret. ' ' 1 

But the heart of the nation was sound. By the side of the gaiety 
and the extravagance, the vices and the meannesses, there were 
countless manifestations of self-devotion and public spirit. The 
responsibilities of war were not forgotten nor were the boys at the 
front neglected. Men and women by the thousands worked day 
and night to mitigate the sufferings of the sick and the wounded. 
Early in the conflict the United States sanitary commission — the 
Red Cross of a later day — was organized as an agency of mercy 
and relief. 2 The main purpose of this commission was to supple- 
ment the work of the Government in the field, in the camp, and in 
hospitals. During its existence it received in the form of voluntary 
contributions collected at fairs held in thousands of cities and 
villages nearly $7,000,000. The entire value of the service rendered 
by the Commission to soldiers was estimated to be close to $35,000,- 
000. Another beneficent body working for the good of the soldiers 
was the United States Christian commission, organized under the 
auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association. The object of 
the Christian commission was to promote ' ' the spiritual good of the 
soldiers and incidentally their intellectual refinement and social 
and physical comfort." 

In the task of supporting the men at the front women took the 
lead, making sacrifices and rendering services that won the admira- 
tion of the world. Women took the place of men on the farms, in 
the factories, at the counter, and in the school-room. In hundreds 
of cities and towns there were soldiers' aid societies composed 
of women who knitted, rolled bandages, and prepared necessities 
and gifts for the men on the battle-line. Thousands of women 
went to the scene of war, where as nurses they risked their lives 
and endured the hardships of war. President Lincoln, speaking in 
Washington at the close of a fair held by the sanitary commission, 
said : "In this extraordinary war, extraordinary developments 
have manifested themselves, such as have not been seen in former 

1 Quoted in Fite's "Social and Industrial Conditions during the Civil War" ; 
p. 2GO. 

2 The Red Cross Society was in existence during the last years of the Civil 
War ; but, having had its origin in Europe, its activities did not reach America 
until after hostilities closed. 




woman's work in the civil war 



WAR TIME POLITICS 497 

wars; and amongst these manifestations nothing has been more £xfv" 

remarkable than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers and 

their families. And the chief agents in these fairs are the women 
of America. I am not accustomed to the use of language of eulogy ; 
I have never studied the art of paying compliments to women ; but 
I must say that if all that has been said by orators and poets since 
the creation of the world in praise of women were applied to the 
women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct 
during the war. I will close by saying, God bless the women of 
America." And what was said in praise of Northern women could 
have been said as truly of Southern women. For the women of the 
South were as devoted as their Northern sisters, and their sacrifices 
and deeds of mercy were as great. 

War Time Politics 

Politics in war time revolved around the conflict that was raging, Re^nsf- 
and the central political figure was the man who was charged with bmty 
the responsibility of conducting the war. This responsibility was 
greater than any preceding President had to bear. "An empty 
treasury," says J. R. Lowell, "was called upon to supply resources 
beyond precedent in the history of finance ; the trees were yet 
growing and the iron unmined with which a navy was to be built 
and armored ; officers without discipline were to make a mob into an 
army ; and abov« all the public opinion of Europe . . . was either 
contemptuously sceptical or hostile. ... A war which may fairly 
be reckoned the most momentous of modern times, was to be waged 
by a people divided at home, unnerved by fifty years of peace, 
under a chief magistrate without experience and without reputa- 
tion, whose every measure was sure to be cunningly hampered by a 
jealous and unscrupulous minority." For the first time in our his- 
tory the President was compelled to feel that he was the head and 
hand of the nation and that he must act upon the maxim that the 
first duty of a government is to defend and maintain its own 
existence. This awful responsibility Lincoln accepted without 
flinching. "Even in his freest moments," said Charles A. Dana ; 
"one always felt the presence of a will, and an intellectual power 
which maintained the ascendency of the President. In his relation 
to the Cabinet it was always plain that he was the master and 
they were the subordinates. They constantly had to yield to his 



498 



WAR TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 



( hap 

XXIV 



"Trust, the 
Executive" 



Taking 
Over the 
Railroads 



will, and if he ever yielded to them it was because they convinced 
him that the course they advised was judicious and appropriate." 

But the executive power, even though it was stretched to the 
breaking-point, could not have availed to win the war without the 
support of the legislative branch. This support Congress cheer- 
fully and freely gave. Throughout the conflict the watchword 
of the lawmakers was "Trust the Executive." In 1861, Congress 
created the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, a com- 
mittee similar to one that was proposed in the war with Germany, 
but which was not actually created owing to President Wilson's 
determined opposition. The joint committee, composed of three 
members of the Senate and four of the House, was charged with 
the duty of inquiring into the conduct of the war and was em- 
powered to send for persons and papers and to hold meetings 
whenever either branch of Congress was in session. President 
Wilson was afraid that a committee of this kind would prove to be 
a public calamity, but President Lincoln found that the joint 
committee was a helpful organ. It did not hamper him in the least 
in the conduct of the war, while it brought to him much useful 
information and kept him in wholesome touch with Congress. 1 

Among the war time laws was an act passed in January, 1861, 
giving the President authority to take possession of railroad and 
telegraph lines. "Be it enacted," ran the law, "that the Presi- 
dent of the United States, where in his judgment the public safety 
may require it, be, and he is hereby authorized to take possession 
of any or all the telegraph lines in the United States, their offices, 
and appurtenances; to take possession of any or all the railroad 
lines in the United States, their rolling stock, their offices, shops, 
buildings, and all their appendages and appurtenances; to pre- 
scribe rules and regulations for the holding, using, and maintaining 
of the aforesaid telegraph and railroad lines, and to extend, repair, 
and complete the same, in the manner most conducive to the safety 
and interest of the Government ; to place under military control all 
the officers, agents, and employees belonging to the telegraph and 
railroad lines thus taken possession of by the President, so that 
they shall be considered as a post road and a part of the Military 
Establishment of the United States, subject to all the restrictions 
imposed by the rules and articles of war. ' ' A director of railroads 

1 Among the members of the committee were Senators Benjamin F. Wade of 
Ohio, Zachariah Chandler of Michigan, and Andrew Johnson of Tennessee. 



WAR TIME POLITICS 499 

was appointed and many lines, chiefly in the border States, were £|^- 

taken over by the Government. The mileage of the roads thus 

operated was 2105, the net expenditures of governmental control 
was about $30,000,000, and the total number of men employed was 
about 25,000. The roads were transferred back to their owners in 
August, 1865. 

A constant task of the Government was to counteract the in- prison!^" 
fluences of disloyalty, for in almost every section of the North and 
West there was a disaffected element. In dealing with this problem 
the President and his subordinates pursued a course that was so 
arbitrary and autocratic that even the friends of the Union and 
administration were constrained to protest in the name of freedom. 
Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania, one of the great "war governors" 
and a devoted supporter of Lincoln, protested against the despotic 
acts of the Government and demanded that Congress intervene 
with restraining legislation. The number of political prisoners 
arbitrarily arrested and incarcerated upon charges of treason, 
disloyalty, discouraging enlistments, and similar offenses must be 
counted by the thousands. "The prisoners," says Professor Dun- 
ning, "that crowded the forts in which they were confined consti- 
tuted a most heterogeneous aggregation. . . . There were South- 
erners who claimed to be alien enemies but were charged with 
being traitorous citizens; there were Northerners charged with 
offenses that were no crimes, or held in many cases with no charge 
at all. " x If an accused person attempted to secure justice through 
the process of judicial procedure he found that the regular courts 
were closed. For early in the war Lincoln authorized the suspen- 
sion of the writ of habeas corpus, with the result that all persons 
charged with discouraging voluntary enlistments, resisting militia 
drafts, or being guilty of any disloyal practice were subjected to 
martial law and had to be tried by court martial or by a military 
commission. Lincoln believed that authority for suspending habeas 
corpus rested wholly with himself, and when Congress sought to 
assert its own authority in the matter in March, 1863, by passing a 
law regulating the suspension of this writ and providing for the 
trial of ' ' political prisoners, ' ' he gave such little heed to the statute 
that in a few months its provisions were unfamiliar to him and to 
all the members of his cabinet except Chase. 2 The intervention of 

^'American Historical Review"; Vol. XXIV, p. 626. 

2 Rhodes, "History of the United States" ; Vol. IV, p. 222. 



500 



WAR TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 



Congress, therefore, did little to check arbitrary arrests. The writ 
of habeas corpus was suspended or disregarded at any time and in 
any place where the President or Federal officials deemed such 
action necessary. 

Lincoln himself did not deny that he sometimes did things that 
were not strictly in accordance with the Constitution. When he 
went contrary to the strict letter of the law, he did so, he said, to 
save the nation. He felt that if he saved the nation he would save 
the Constitution with it, but that if the nation should be lost, the 
Constitution also would be lost. "Often a limb," he said, "must 
be amputated to save a life ; but a life is never wisely given to save 
a limb." This, of course, was another way of saying that in time 
of war laws are silent. But the President assured his people that 
they need not be fearful lest they lose their liberties. He was no 
more able to believe, he said, that military arrests during the war 
would result in depriving Americans permanently of their rights 
through the coming days of peace than he was able to believe that 
a man could contract so strong an appetite for emetics during 
temporary illness as to persist in feeding upon them during the 
remainder of his healthful life. The "emetics" were administered 
by the tenderest and most sympathetic of physicians. The arbi- 
trary methods of the President were not accompanied by the spirit 
of tyranny. When there was injustice done by arbitrary arrests it 
was inflicted by subordinates. Lincoln himself could not have been 
a tyrant if he had tried ; his mood and temper unfitted him for the 
role of despot. In all cases he wielded power with reserve and 
moderation. 

Throughout the war Lincoln was harassed and thwarted in 
Congress and outside by peace Democrats — Copperheads they were 
called — who, believing that the South could never be conquered, 
demanded a negotiated peace. 1 The leader of the Copperheads was 
C. L. Vallandigham, an Ohio lawyer who represented his district 
in Congress from 1857 until 1863. In May, 1863, this prince of 
agitators made a speech at Mount Vernon, Ohio, in which he 
denounced the war that was being waged against the South and in 
an outburst of vehemence characterized an order of General Burn- 
side forbidding treasonable utterances as a base usurpation of 
arbitrary power, saying that he despised it and spat upon it. 

1 They were called copperheads because they wore the liberty head cut from 
an old copper cent as an emblematic badge. 



WAR TIME POLITICS 501 

Within a few feet of him stood Burnside's officers in civilian dress ££j A /- 

taking notes. A few days later Vallandigham was taken out of bed 

at his home in Dayton and conveyed to Cincinnati, where he was 
tried before a military tribunal and condemned to imprisonment. 
There was no doubt that Burnside overstepped his powers, for the 
statute of March 3, 1863, required that the secretary of war should 
report the arrest to the Federal judge and that a civil trial should 
follow. But the plain words of the law were disregarded and a 
military trial was held. The incident caused Horatio Seymour of 
New York to declare that the arbitrary course of the Federal 
authorities ''will determine in the minds of more than one half of 
the people of the loyal States whether this war is waged to put 
down rebellion at the South, or to destroy free institutions at the 
North." Lincoln doubted the wisdom of the arrest, yet he upheld 
Burnside. He commuted Vallandigham 's sentence, however, from 
confinement in prison to banishment and directed that he be sent 
beyond the Union lines into the territory of the Confederacy. 
Accordingly the leader of the Copperheads was taken to the front 
and under a flag of truce was abandoned at a point which lay within 
the center line of Confederate pickets. 

After remaining for a while in the South, Vallandigham went by 
way of Bermuda to Canada, "where he spoke as a martyr to his 
fellow democrats with a voice of greater power than if he had been 
able to declaim from the stump in every county of Ohio." As a 
remonstrance against his martyrdom he was nominated by his party 
for governor of Ohio in 1863, and the hearty response to his nomi- 
nation made it seem for a while that he might be successful at the 
polls. But the full force of the administration was thrown against 
him, and he was overwhelmingly defeated. After the election he 
was permitted to return to Ohio unnoticed by the Government. 
Now that he was no longer a martyr his power as an agitator began 
to wane. 

Yet the spirit of Vallandigham had its manifestations in the ^cjenan^a 
Presidential election of 1864. Indeed it was Vallandigham 's own candidate 
person that dominated the Democratic national convention that met 
in Chicago, and it was his own hand that wrote the most significant 
utterance of the platform, to wit: "That the convention does 
explicitly declare as the sense of the people, that after four years 
of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, humanity, 
liberty and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be 



502 



WAR TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 



made for a cessation of hostilities, and that a convention or some 
other unmilitary means be employed that peace may be restored on 
the basis of the Federal union of the States. ' ' General McClellan 
was named by the convention as the presidential candidate. He 
accepted the nomination, but in his letter of acceptance he repudi- 
ated the pivotal resolution of the platform. The convention had 
said, peace first and Union afterward, if it could be had. McClel- 
lan said he could not look his old comrades in the face and say that. 
He was for Union first and then peace. Lincoln was frankly a can- 
didate for reelection. He did not believe it wis good policy to 
"swap horses while crossing a stream." There was opposition to his 
nomination from two sources, from radical Republicans who thought 
his attitude toward the South was too lenient, and from conserva- 
tives who thought he managed affairs with too strong a hand. The 
radicals, denouncing Lincoln for his "imbecile and vacillating" 
policy, held a convention at Cleveland and nominated J. C. 
Fremont for the Presidency. When the President heard of their 
action and was told that there were 400 at the Fremont gathering 
he turned to his Bible and .read to his secretaries from I Samuel, 
Chap, xxii, v. 2: "And every one that was in distress, and every 
one that was in .debt, and every one that was discontented, gath- 
ered themselves unto him ; and he became a captain over them : and 
there were with him about four hundred men." But the radicals, 
finding that their followers were few, gave up the contest. Before 
the election was held, 'Fremont dropped out of the campaign. The 
conservative Republicans urged Chase to become a candidate. The 
secretary took kindly to the idea, for he felt that he had a great 
popular following and he was extremely querulous and critical of 
Lincoln. An .organization supporting Chase came into existence, 
but his candidacy speedily collapsed. When the Republicans held 
their convention in Baltimore in June Lincoln received the votes of 
all the delegates of every State, except those of Missouri, which 
were cast for General Grant. For Vice-President, Andrew Johnson 
of Tennessee was nominated. 

The Republicans went before the country pledging themselves 
as Union men to do everything in their power ' ' to aid the Govern- 
ment in quelling by force of arms the rebellion now raging against 
its authority," and declaring that since slavery was the cause of 
the war, justice and the national safety demanded its utter and 
complete extirpation from the soil of the republic. They approved 



WAR TIME POLITICS 503 

of the Emancipation Proclamation and favored an 'amendment to ^ap. 
the Constitution forever prohibiting the existence of slavery within 
the limits or the jurisdiction of the United States. Thus the party 
which four years before was ready only for the restriction of slavery 
was now committed irrevocably to abolition. 

In the Presidential contest of 1864, bullets furnished argument K^ted 
for the ballots cast for the victorious party. Throughout the cam- 
paign the thoughts of the people were centered upon the war, and 
political hopes rose and fell with the varying fortunes on the field. 
When the Union troops suffered reverses the prospect of the Demo- 
crats brightened ; for it seemed that after all they were right, that 
the South could not be conquered and that a negotiated peace would 
have to be made. On the other hand, news of Confederate defeats 
meant fresh hope for the Republican party. For a time the outlook 
for the President was not very encouraging. In August Lincoln 
himself wrote : "For some days past it seems exceedingly probable 
that the Administration will not be reelected." But in the autumn 
Union victories caused the omens of defeat to be dispelled. "Sher- 
man and Farragut," said Seward, "have knocked the bottom out 
of the Chicago nomination. ' ' Seward read the signs aright. When 
the vote was taken on November 8 Lincoln received 212 electoral 
votes while McClellan received only twenty-one. 

Lincoln had not mistaken the temper of the people ; they wanted conference 
to press on and finish what they had begun. Nevertheless, soon R t " d a s mpton 
after the election there was a determined drive for a negotiated 
peace. Lincoln had no objection to a peace of that kind provided 
the integrity of the Union should not be a subject of negotiation. 
When in January, 1865, overtures came to him from Southern 
leaders for a preliminary peace conference he signified his willing- 
ness to receive agents in an informal manner. Accordingly, on 
February 3 he attended in person a conference held at Hampton 
Roads on board a steamboat which lay at anchor near Fortress 
Monroe. But the differences between the Northern members of the 
conference — one of whom was Seward — and the Southern commis- 
sioners were so radical that agreement was impossible. When 
Stephens, one of the Confederate commissioners, pleaded for an 
armistice, Lincoln pointedly refused one on any terms unless the 
question of reunion should be first disposed of. Since the South 
was fighting for independence, the Southern commissioners could 
not promise to abandon the Confederacy. The conference accord- 



504 



WAR TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 



ingly came to an end, the Confederate representatives returning to 
Richmond aware that there was nothing left for the South but 
entire submission. When the terms of peace as proposed by Lincoln 
were reported to Davis he denounced them bitterly and rejected 
them. 

Lincoln's second inauguration was now only a few weeks ahead. 
His reelection was the first of its kind since Jackson's time. The 
inaugural address was delivered at the east portico of the Capitol 
before an immense throng. The address was the briefest ever 
delivered by a President upon an inaugural occasion. Yet no other 
address was ever marked by such pathos and power. In the last 
great message to his fellow-countrymen the President said : 

At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential 
office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was 
at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be 
pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of 
four years, during which public declarations have been constantly 
called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which 
still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, 
little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, 
upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public 
as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encour- 
aging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in 
regard to it is venture'd. 

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts 
were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded 
it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being 
delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union 
without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy 
it with war — seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by 
negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would 
make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would 
accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came. 

One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not dis- 
tributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern 
part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful in- 
terest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the 
war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the 
object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, 
while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict 
the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the 
war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. 



WAR TIME POLITICS 505 

Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with xxnT' 

or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for 

an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental .and astounding. 
Both read the same Bible and pray to .the same God, and each 
invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any 
men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their 
bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, 
that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. 
That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His 
own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it 
must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom 
the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery 
is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs 
come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, 
He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South 
this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offenses 
come, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine 
attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to 
Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty 
scourge of war may speedily pass aAvay. Yet, if God wills that 
it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hun- 
dred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until 
every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another 
drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so 
still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and 
righteous altogether. ' ' 

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in 
the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish 
the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for 
him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his 
orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting 
peace among ourselves and with all nations. 

Suggested Readings 

The sanitary commission : Rhodes, Vol. V, pp. 244-259. 

Conscription, North and South: Rhodes, Vol. IV, pp. 322-325; also Vol. V, 

pp. 431-437 ; also Schouler, Vol. VI, pp. 294-296, 414-421. 
Taxation during the war : Dewey, pp. 298-330. 
Finances of the Confederacy : Rhodes, Vol. V, pp. 509-510 ; Davis, Vol. I, 

pp. 485-492. 
Conditions at the North : E. D. Fite, "Social and Industrial Conditions in the 

North During the Civil War." 
Conditions in the South : J. C. Schwab, "The South During the Civil War." 
The war tariff : Taussig, pp. 155-170. 
Lincoln reelected : Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 298-312. 
Trade-unions in the war period of 1861-65 : Commons, Vol. II, pp. 13-42. 



XXV 
BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 

DURING the last days of the war President Lincoln was giving 
his best thought to the subject of reconstructing the shat- 
tered Union. The task that lay before him was quite as formidable 
as the one that confronted him in 1861. Then a Union was to be 
preserved; now a Union was to be reconstructed. How was the 
great work to be accomplished ? How were the unfinished problems 
connected with slavery to be solved ? How were the seceding States 
to be treated? 



Restoring 
;i "Proper 
Practical 
Relation" 



Lincoln-s Policy of Reconstruction 

In dealing with these questions everything depended upon the 
attitude of the conqueror toward the fallen foe. Should a policy 
of clemency or a policy of severity be adopted? Lincoln was for 
clemency. The words of his second inaugural address foreshadowed 
a policy of tenderness and compassion. At his last cabinet meet- 
ing the President gave plain notice to his counselors that he 
intended to avoid the shedding of blood and that there would be 
no vindictiveness of punishment. "I hope," he said, "there will 
be no persecution, no bloody work after the war is over. No one 
need expect me to take any part in hanging or killing these men 
[the Confederate leaders], even the worst of them. Enough lives 
have been sacrificed. We must extinguish our resentments if we 
expect harmony and union. There is too much desire on the part 
of some of our very good friends to be masters, to interfere and 
dictate to those States, to treat people not as fellow citizens; there 
is too little respect for their rights. I do not sympathize in these 
feelings. ' ' 

But Lincoln indulged in no illusions. He knew that the prob- 
lems of reconstruction were fraught with tremendous difficulties 
and that these would have to be dealt with in a firm and practical 
way. In meeting the various situations that would present them- 
selves he wanted a free hand and he expressed a wish that the 

506 



LINCOLN'S POLICY OF RECONSTRUCTION 507 

executive might not be embarrassed by cast-iron laws of Congress. £fy P - 

"Great peculiarities," he said in April, 1865, "pertain to each 

State, and such important and sudden changes occur in the same 
State, and withal so new and unprecedented is the whole case, that 
no exclusive and inflexible plan can be safely prescribed as to 
details and collaterals. Such an exclusive and inflexible plan 
would surely become a new entanglement." Nor did he wish to 
be hampered by any theory respecting the legal and constitutional 
status of the seceding States. His own private view was that the 
States had never been out of the Union, but he did not care to 
press this view. When he was criticized for having no fixed notion 
on the question whether the seceded States were in the Union or 
out of it he said : "I have expressly forborne any public expres- 
sion upon that question. Whatever it may hereafter become, that 
question is bad as the basis of a controversy, and good for nothing 
at all — a merely pernicious abstraction. We all agree that the 
seceded States, so called, are out of their proper practical relation 
with the Union, and that the sole object of the Government, civil 
and military, in regard to those States, is again to get them into 
that proper practical relation. I believe that it is not only pos- 
sible, but, in fact easier, to do this without deciding, or even con- 
sidering, whether those States have ever been out of the Union, 
than with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would be 
utterly immaterial whether they had ever been abroad. Let us all 
join in doing the acts necessary to restore the proper practical 
relations between those States and the Union, and each forever 
after innocently indulge his own opinion, whether in doing the 
acts he brought the States from without into the Union, or 
only gave them proper assistance, they never having been out 
of it." 

While Lincoln was ready to waive the question of secession en- £° n pga° ns 
tirely, he nevertheless felt that the seceded States ought to know 
what his policy toward them would be. On April 4, 1865, the day 
after Richmond fell, he visited the Confederate capital in person 
and while there he made it known that he would insist upon three 
indispensable conditions for peace: (1) The national authority 
must be restored throughout the Southern States; (2) the emanci- 
pation of the slaves must be accepted as an accomplished fact; (3) 
all forces hostile to the National Government must be disarmed. 
Here in a nutshell was Lincoln's policy of reconstruction: all the 



508 BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 

£xy P - South had to do was to obey the Federal laws, accept the abolition 

of slavery, and lay down its arms. 

TheAssas- g u ^ Lincoln did not live to carry out his broad and liberal 

sination J 

policy. On April 14, 1865, the great man, while sitting in his box 
in a theater in Washington, was shot in the head by John Wilkes 
Booth, an actor, who had become mentally unbalanced because the 
South had failed to win. Lincoln fell forward unconscious when 
he was shot and never regained consciousness. He sank rapidly, 
and on the morning of April 15 he died. 

His death brought sorrow to the North because it felt that his 
patience and firmness and devotion had saved the Union. The 
South grieved because it felt that it had lost a good friend. The 
whole nation mourned for it knew that no other man "could so 
wisely and powerfully, or would so earnestly, have applied himself 
to the compassionate task of binding together the broken ligaments 
of national brotherhood." 

Sprung from the West. 
He drank the valorous youth of a new world. 
The strength of virgin forests braced his mind, 
The hush of spacious prairies stilled his soul. 
His words were oaks in acorns; and his thoughts 
Were roots that firmly gript the granite truth. 

Up from log cabin to the Capitol, 

One fire was on his spirit, one resolve — 

To send the keen ax to the root of wrong, 

Clearing a free way for the feet of God, 

The eyes of conscience testing every stroke, 

To make his deed the measure of a man. 

He built the rail pile as he built the State, 

Pouring his splendid strength through every blow: 

The grip that swung the ax in Illinois 

Was on the pen that set a people free. 

— Edwin Markham. 

Johnson's Efforts at Eeconstruction 

Three hours after Lincoln's death the Vice-President, Andrew 
Johnson, received the Presidential oath of office from Chief Justice 
Chase. "You are President," said the chief justice after Johnson 
had taken the oath. "May God support, guide, and bless you in 
your arduous duties." 
a Most Ex- The new President was truly a most extraordinary man. In 

traordinary * ^ 

Man the possession of downright native vigor and in the making of the 

best use of his inborn powers he has had no equal in American 



JOHNSON'S EFFORTS AT RECONSTRUCTION 509 

history. He was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1808, and was £|^ p - 

therefore about the same age as Lincoln. Like Lincoln, his child- 

hood was spent in poverty. As soon as he was old enough he be- 
gan to help to earn a living for his widowed mother and himself. 
He never went to school a day in his life. When, at the age of 
ten, he began to learn the trade of a tailor, he did not know a 
single letter of the alphabet. At eighteen, with his mother, he 
went to Greenville in Tennessee, where he found work at his trade 
and where he settled down and married. His wife was an edu- 
cated woman, and she became her husband's teacher. She taught 
him how to write and gave him instruction in arithmetic and 
grammar. While he plied his needle his wife read to him. He 
joined a debating society and learned the art of speaking in public. 
He entered politics while yet a boy, and at the age of twenty he 
was elected mayor of his town. In 1839 he was elected to the 
legislature of Tennessee; two years later he went to the State 
senate ; in 1843 he was elected to the national House of Representa- 
tives ; in 1855 he was made governor of his State ; in 1857 he was 
chosen to represent Tennessee in the United States Senate ; in 1862 
he was appointed by President Lincoln military governor of Ten- 
nessee ; in 1864 he was elected Vice-President. And now in April, 
1865, he found himself at the top of the political ladder, at the 
pinnacle of American greatness. 

How would this remarkable man use his power? What would 
be his attitude toward the South? At first it seemed that Johnson 
would adopt a policy of severity and would thus play into the 
hands of a group of Northern leaders who believed that the South 
had committed a great wrong and that punitive justice should be 
meted out to her. When Johnson, therefore, began his administra- 
tion with threats of dire punishment for all "traitors" and with a 
show of vindictiveness toward Jefferson Davis and other promi- 
nent Confederate leaders the Northern men who were breathing 
"fire and hemp" were greatly pleased. "Johnson, we have faith 
in you," said one of the Northern radicals who cherished a desire 
for vengeance. 

But the radicals quickly found themselves disappointed in their £°^°" he 
man. To their consternation Johnson soon dropped his punitive Task of 

* - 1 * Recoustruc- 

policy and virtually adopted Lincoln's plan of reconstruction. He tion 
reestablished Federal authority within the limits of the several 
Southern States; he caused the post-office service to be renewed 



510 BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 

£hap. an( j the Federal taxes to be collected ; he opened the Federal courts 

for the administration of justice; he rescinded the blockade and 

threw open the ports of the South to the trade of the world. On 
May 29, 1865, he issued a proclamation granting amnesty and 
pardon to all who had been in arms against the Union and restor- 
ing all rights of property except as to slaves, "providing that those 
desiring pardon would take oath that they would thenceforth sup- 
port and defend the Constitution of the United States and abide 
by all laws and proclamations with reference to the emancipation 
of slaves." There were, however, certain classes excluded from 
the benefits of the amnesty. It did not apply to the civil or diplo- 
matic officers of the Confederacy ; to military officers above the rank 
of colonel; to those who had abandoned seats in Congress in order 
to aid the South in its war; or to persons who owned property 
worth more than $25,000. But even persons belonging to the ex- 
cepted classes might obtain pardon upon special application to the 
President, who took pains to hold out the hope that clemency 
would be freely extended to all who might specially apply. Speak- 
ing broadly, Johnson placed pardon within easy reach of every 
man who had joined the Confederacy. 
Lee Takes The proffer of amnesty and pardon met with as warm a response 

Allegiance as could have been expected from brave men who had suffered 
defeat. Large numbers took the oath to support the Federal Con- 
stitution and thus severed their allegiance to the Confederacy. 
Many applications for pardon came from prominent men in the 
excluded classes. Among those making special application was 
General Robert E. Lee. Writing to a friend about this matter 
Lee said : "I have since the cessation of hostilities advised all 
with whom I have conversed on the subject, who come within the 
terms of the President's proclamation, to take the oath of allegiance 
and accept in good faith the amnesty offered. But I have gone 
further and have recommended to those who were excluded from 
these benefits to make application under the proviso of the procla- 
mation. The war being at an end, the Southern States have laid 
down their arms and the question at issue between them and the 
Northern States having been decided, I believe it to be the duty of 
every one to unite in the restoration of the country and the rees- 
tablishment of peace and harmony. These considerations governed 
me in the counsels I gave to others and induced me on the 13th of 
June to make application to be included in the terms of the amnesty 



JOHNSON'S EFFORTS AT RECONSTRUCTION 511 

proclamation. ' ' The attitude of Lee was the attitude of Southern £S£ P ' 

leaders almost everywhere. "Every observation," said General 

Grant, who made a tour of the South in 1866, "leads me to the 
conclusion that the citizens of the Southern States are anxious to 
return to self-government within the Union as soon as possible. ' ' 

Emancipation was a feature of Johnson's reconstruction policy Thirteenth 
as it was of Lincoln's. The obstacles to abolition were not very Amendment 
great, for the war had done its work and slavery was doomed by 
the logic of events. The power of the planter had been broken, 
and the economic structure of the South had collapsed. There was 
needed, therefore, only a legal declaration of emancipation to make 
the freedom of the negro a fact. At the time Johnson entered 
upon his duties the machinery of government was already moving 
swiftly toward constitutional emancipation. Even before the war 
had ended Congress, in accordance with the wishes of Lincoln, 
had in March, 1865, submitted to the States, for ratification, the 
Thirteenth Amendment, providing for the complete abolition of 
slavery throughout the entire extent of the United States. The 
amendment was promptly ratified by three fourths of the States, 
and in December, 1865, it became valid as a part of the Constitu- 
tion. By this time slavery was virtually dead, for it had been 
abolished by State action in all the States but three. Still, it 
was the Thirteenth Amendment that gave the moribund institu- 
tion its death blow and made freedom henceforth the portion of 
every person whose feet should rest upon American soil. 

The immediate effect of the abolition measures was to transform The 
about three million negroes from a condition of bondage to a Left in a 
condition of freedom. Many of the freedmen of course appreciated dition 0n 
the new boon of liberty, but vast numbers of them at first hardly 
knew what the word liberty meant. At the close of the war 
William Lloyd Garrison visited Charleston, South Carolina, where 
he met a crowd of negroes just set free. "Well, my friends," he 
said to them, "you are free at last; let us give three cheers for 
freedom!" And he undertook to lead the cheering. But he 
cheered alone. The poor creatures gave no response : they merely 
gazed at him in wonderment. They knew nothing about cheering; 
they knew nothing about freedom. Nor did the Government exert 
itself to prepare them for a life of freedom. "Government," said 
Frederick Douglass, a distinguished negro leader, "left the f reed- 
man in a bad condition. It had made him free and henceforth he 



512 



BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 



CHAP. 
XXV 



Johnson's 
Conditions 
for Restor- 
ing the 
Seceded 
States 



Groping in 
the Dark 



must make his own way in the world. Yet he had none of the con- 
ditions of self-preservation or self-proteetion. He was free from 
the individual master, but the slave of society. He had neither 
money, property, or friends. He was free from the old plantation, 
but he had nothing but the dusty road under his feet. He was 
free from the old quarter that once gave him shelter, but a slave 
to the rains of summer and to the frosts of winter. He was turned 
loose, naked, hungry, and destitute to the open sky." 

But emancipation was not the subject in which President John- 
son was most deeply interested. The object of his deepest concern 
was the legal and constitutional status of the seceding States. To 
restore these States to their "proper practical relation" in the 
constitutional system was his highest ambition, and he made the 
fullest use of the executive power to bring them back into the 
Union. In dealing with the problem he followed substantially a 
plan which had been marked out by Lincoln. In each of the seced- 
ing States there was to be a provisional governor who was to take 
the necessary steps for the election and assembling of a State 
constitutional convention, the members of which were to be chosen 
by white voters. The convention was expected to do three things 
in order to render the State eligible for readmission into the Union : 
(1) it must repeal the ordinance of secession which took it out 
of the Union; (2) it must declare for the abolition of slavery; 
(3) it must repudiate the war debts contracted by the Confederate 
Government. Having met these requirements the convention could 
draw up a new constitution for the State and then adjourn, leaving 
to the legislature the task of making such laws as were necessary 
for the new social order. 

The conditions laid down by the President were quite readily 
complied with in nearly every State, and when Congress met in 
December, 1865, Johnson could say in his message that the con- 
ventions had been called, governors elected, legislatures assembled, 
and senators and representatives chosen to the Congress of the 
United States, and that "sectional animosity was surely and 
rapidly merging itself into a spirit of nationality." 

Johnson viewed the first-fruits of his policy with satisfaction 
and the country seemed to look on with approval. But there were 
breakers ahead, as Johnson and the country were to find out. In- 
deed, the situation was such as to make smooth sailing impossible. 
The nation was shot through with the passions and resentments 



THE CONGRESSIONAL PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION 513 

aroused by four years of internecine strife ; sentiment both at the <~>"ap. 
North and the South was turbulent and inclined to violence; the 



difficulties connnected with the readjusting 1 of Southern affairs 
reached to the very roots of society and involved the construction 
of a new social and economic fabric. With each succeeding month 
conditions grew more chaotic and presently statesmen lost their 
bearings and began to grope around in the dark. If they fumbled 
and brought things into confusion they only did what statesmen 
always do at the end of a great war. A period of reconstruction 
is always a period of muddling. 

The Congressional Plan of Reconstruction 
President Johnson was desirous to get the seceded States back congress 

Calls a 

into the Union before Congress should convene. Like Lincoln, iiaiton 
he wanted to work with a free hand. When Congress met in Policy 
December, 1865, he quickly learned that his hands were henceforth 
to be securely tied. Even before his message was read Congress 
was entertaining a resolution providing for the appointment of a 
joint committee to inquire into the condition of the former Con- 
federate States and report "whether they or any of them are 
entitled to be represented in either House of Congress . . . ; and 
until such report shall have been made and finally acted upon by 
Congress, no member shall be received into either House from any 
of the said so-called Confederate States." The resolution was 
passed, with the result that the doors of both houses of Congress 
were closed against all the newly elected Southern senators and 
representatives, a considerable number of whom had come to 
Washington to claim their seats on the opening day of the session. 
Thus the first act of Congress was to call a halt to Johnson's 
program. 

The joint committee upon which so much now depended con- Stevens and 
sisted of fifteen members, nine from the House and six from -the 
Senate. Two of the members of the committee, Thaddeus Stevens 
of Pennsylvania, a representative, and Charles Sumner, a senator, 
belonged to the radical group and were the dominating personali- 
ties of Congress. Stevens was now a grim-looking lame old man 
of seventy-four, but the fires of his strong nature still burned with 
a fierce heat. He was a violent partisan, and he went about his 
work in a bitter and vindictive manner. "With a club foot," says 



514 



BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 



CHAr 
XXV 



"Conquered 
Provinces" 



The "Black 
('odes" 



Oberholtzer, "that made him a marked figure wherever he was 
seen, a profane and satirical tongue, a most unrelenting attitude 
toward everything that seemed to him to savor of aristocracy, and 
extraordinary abilities as a debater and an orator, he could be 
left out of no man's reckoning in the House of Representatives. 
He would have been a Marat or a Danton in the French Revolu- 
tion." Sumner, who stood next to Stevens in power and influence, 
was likewise a radical of the extreme type. A narrow idealist and 
visionary, his fanaticism sometimes approached madness. For two 
years these two iron-willed, imperious men, Stevens and Sumner, 
were the virtual dictators of the Republican party and of Congress. 

Stevens and Sumner and the other radical leaders were resolved 
that Johnson must be ignored and that Congress must frame its 
own plan of reconstruction. It was certain that the Congressional 
policy would be more drastic than Johnson's. The radicals were 
not disposed to take Lincoln's advice and extinguish their resent- 
ments. On the contrary they seemed to cherish the animosities 
engendered by the war. They wanted the South to feel the heavy 
hand of her Northern conquerors. Sumner contended that the 
seceding States had committed political suicide, that they had 
abdicated all their rights under the Constitution, and that they 
were nothing more than Territories under the exclusive jurisdic- 
tion of Congress. Stevens was even more severe. He regarded 
the seceded States as conquered provinces that had no rights which 
the conquerors were bound to respect. He declared for the con- 
fiscation of the estates of Confederate leaders. "Reduce them," 
he said, "to a level with plain republicans; send them forth to 
labor, and teach their children to enter the workshops or handle 
the plow, and you will thus humble the proud traitor. ' ' 

The radicals sought to justify the harshness of their attitude by 
pointing to the actual facts of the Southern situation. For one 
thing they pointed to the so-called "black codes" which were 
enacted in several of the Southern States just after the close of 
the war. The aim of these codes was to put such restraints upon 
former slaves as were necessary to prevent vagrancy and idleness 
and disorder. The restraints were stringent, exceptional, and in- 
consistent with the principles of civil liberty. The freedman was 
virtually forbidden to assemble with other negroes, his freedom 
of locomotion was restricted, and in some places he was deprived 
of the means of self-defense. In Mississippi the freedman was not 



THE CONGRESSIONAL PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION 515 

allowed to hold land ; in Louisiana, in one jurisdiction, every negro £\v P ' 

was required to be in the regular service of some white person or 

former owner; in South Carolina persons of color were forbidden 
to engage in any occupation except farming or domestic service 
unless under special license. For the enactment of the "black 
codes" the South had no apology to make. There was a practical 
reason why the negroes should be put to work, and the discrimina- 
tion was justified on the ground that the black man was not, and 
in the nature of things could not be on the same social and intel- 
lectual level with the white man, and he could not therefore be 
made equal with the white man before the law. But the radicals 
in Congress dissented strongly from this view. To their minds 
the "black codes" were indefensible and their enactment was a 
proof that the South was not acting in good faith. The Thir- 
teenth Amendment had been accepted, yet the negro was not being 
treated as if he was a free man. 

The civil status of the freedman was not the only thing that suffrage 
troubled the minds of the Republicans in Congress. His political 
status was also a matter of deep concern. Should the freedmen 
be granted the elective franchise ? This was the most serious ques- 
tion of reconstruction days and the one around which the fiercest 
battles of the period raged. To Southern whites the very idea of 
negro suffrage was of course revolting. They felt that to grant 
the ballot to the former slaves would be to submerge Caucasian 
civilization in African barbarism, and they implored the North 
not to hand them over to the "unnatural dominion of an alien and 
inferior race which has never exhibited sufficient administrative 
ability for the good government of even the tribes into which it is 
broken up in its native seats and which in all ages has itself fur- 
nished slaves for all the other races of the earth." Protestations 
of this kind could reasonably be expected to find a response in 
many parts of the North, for in only six of the Northern States 
were black men at this time permitted to vote. In the autumn 
elections of 1865, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Connecticut rejected 
proposals for negro suffrage. But Sumner and Stevens were for 
giving the freedman the franchise. They contended that without 
the ballot the former slaves could have no security in their freedom. 

There was another reason whv Republicans should demand votes Negro 

. . Suffrage 

for the negro — the reason of party expediency. The adoption of and Party 

Expediency 

the Thirteenth Amendment had changed the basis of representa- 



516 



BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 



CHAP. 
XXV 



The 

Freedman's 

Bureau 



Johnson'a 
Influence 

on the 
Wane 



tion in the South, from the whites plus three fifths of the negroes, 
to the whites plus all the negroes. This meant of course that in 
the future the South would have many more votes in Congress 
than she had ever had before, and her political power would be 
greatly increased. In this increment of strength the Republican 
leaders saw disaster for their party. They feared that the ex- 
Confederates and Northern Democrats would form an alliance 
and soon succeed in gaining control of the Federal Government. 
And what would be the result? The South would dominate the 
country; the debt of the North would be repudiated and that of 
the South paid; the negro would be remanded to slavery. Every- 
thing, in brief, that the North had fought for would be lost. To 
escape this danger and save their party the Republicans urged 
the enfranchisement of the negro, the assumption being that, vir- 
tually every freedman would vote the Republican ticket. "We 
need the votes of all the negroes," said Sumner, "and cannot 
afford to wait." 

The two subjects of paramount interest, therefore, were the civil 
rights of the freedman and his political enfranchisement. The 
security of the freedman was a matter to which Congress had be- 
gun to give attention even before the w T ar actually ended. In 
March, 1865, it established a Freedman's Bureau. The purpose 
of this bureau was to shield freeclmen from the hardships of their 
new condition. It was to look after the material welfare of former 
slaves, protect them from injustice, and assume a general guardian- 
ship over them. The law which created the bureau provided that 
it was to continue in existence for only one year after the termina- 
tion of the war. In January, 1866, Congress passed a bill which 
prolonged the bureau's life for an indefinite period and increased 
its power. One of the objects of the new bill was to use the Fed- 
eral military forces to protect the fre^dmen against the discrimina- 
tions of the "black codes." When the bill was presented to 
Johnson he vetoed it, and the veto was sustained. A few months 
later, however, a bill continuing the Freedmen's Bureau for a 
period of two years was passed over the veto of the President. 

The veto of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill marked the beginning 
of a long and bitter struggle between the executive and Congress. 
It also marked a turning-point in Johnson's leadership. Hitherto 
his career had been one of almost unbroken success, but after the 
veto his influence began to wane. When he found that Congress 



THE CONGRESSIONAL PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION 517 

was against him he displayed much bad temper and rained tor- £f^ p - 

rents of abuse upon his opponents, impugning their motives and 

accusing them of attempting to destroy the fundamental principles 
of the American government. His conduct indeed was so unseemly 
as to impair his prestige and alienate many of his friends. Then, 
too, he lost ground because in the North the veto itself proved to be 
unpopular. He could not afford to lose the support of the North- 
ern people, for without them he was of course a beaten man. 

The radicals in Congress were in full control, and they used r^j^m 
their power in a rather high-handed fashion. In order to protect 
the freedman against the severities of the "black codes," they 
carried through in March, 1866, the famous Civil Rights Bill, the 
underlying purpose of which was to place the white man and the 
negro on an equal footing in the enjoyment of civil rights. "All 
persons," ran this law, "born in the United States and not subject 
to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby 
declared to be citizens of the United States; and such citizens of 
every race and color, without regard to any previous condition of 
slavery or involuntary servitude except as a punishment for crime 
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall have the 
same right in every State and Territory of the United States to 
make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, 
to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal 
property, and to the full and equal benefits of all laws and pro- 
ceedings for the security of person and property as is enjoyed 
by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, 
and penalties, and to none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regu- 
lation, or custom to the contrary, notwithstanding." The Presi- 
dent vetoed the bill on the ground that it was an unconstitutional 
invasion of the rights of the States, and it was promptly passed 
over his head in May, 1866. 

Stevens in the House and Sumner in the Senate used whip and ™^ rteenth 
spur in carrying forward the "Congressional plan." A month Amendment 
after the passage of the Civil Rights Bill they caused Congress 
to propose to the States for ratification the Fourteenth Amend- 
ment. Their purpose was to embody the principles of the Civil 
Rights Law in a permanent form in the Constitution. They feared 
that the law might be repealed or be set aside as unconstitutional, 
but they knew that the amendment would last. The first section 
of the proposed amendment embodied in its essence the provision 



518 



BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 



PHAP. 
XXV 



Equal 
Protection 
of the 
Laws 



Report of 
the Recon- 
rt ruction 
Committee 



of the Civil Rights Bill as quoted above. The second section pro- 
vided that if in any State the right to vote should be withheld from 
any male adult citizens, the number of representatives in that 
State should be reduced in proportion. This meant that if any 
negroes in any seceding State were not allowed to vote the State 
would be penalized in the matter of representation to the extent 
that the negroes were disfranchised; the State was not to be com- 
pelled to give the negro the vote, but it was to be rewarded by a 
greater representation in Congress if it did so. The third section, 
aimed at those who had taken up arms against the Union, provided 
that any person who had previously held any office necessitating 
his taking an oath to support the Constitution of the United States 
and had engaged in rebellion, or given aid or comfort to the 
enemies of the nation, should be ineligible for office either State or 
Federal, although Congress might by a two thirds vote remove 
such disability. The last section affirmed the validity of the public 
debt incurred in conducting the war, and forbade the assumption 
by State or nation of any debt "incurred in aid of insurrection 
or rebellion," or any claim for loss or emancipation of any 
slave. 

An outstanding feature of the Fourteenth Amendment was the 
guarantee that every person within the jurisdiction of the United 
States should enjoy the equal protection of the laws. Here in the 
mind of Sumner was a right "that was to belong to every person 
that drew breath upon American soil. He might be poor, weak, 
humble or black; he might be of Caucasian, Jewish, Indian or 
Ethiopian race; he might be of French, German, English or Irish 
extraction ; but before the Constitution amended as proposed all 
their distinctions would disappear. He would not be poor, weak, 
humble or black; nor would he be French, German, English or 
Irish ; he would be a man, the equal of all his fellow men. ' ' x 

In June, 1866, about the time the Fourteenth Amendment was 
sent to the State legislatures, the joint reconstruction committee 
presented its report to Congress. The essence of the report was 
the declaration that the seceding States were disorganized com- 
munities outside the Union, and that they should be denied repre- 
sentation "until sufficient guarantees were provided which would 
tend to secure the civil rights of all citizens, temporary restoration 
of suffrage to those not guilty of participating in the rebellion, 

1 Adapted from a speech by Sumner on "Equality Before the Law." 



THE CONGRESSIONAL PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION 519 

and the disqualification from office of at least a portion of those ™ap. 

whose crimes have proved them to be enemies of the Union and 

unworthy of public confidence." The "guarantees" proposed by 
the committee were substantially the provisions of the Fourteenth 
Amendment which had just been proposed by Congress and which 
was before the country for ratification or rejection. 1 

The Congressional election that was approaching when this re- TheCon- 
port was made gave the voters of the country an opportunity to Section! 
decide between Johnson's mild plan of reconstruction and the 
harsh plan foreshadowed by the joint committee. In the campaign 
both sides made unusual efforts to gain votes. As the canvass pro- 
ceeded it became plainer and plainer that the Congressional party 
would win. The President's cause was weakened by a number of 
outrages that were committed against the freedmen in the South. 
Of special advantage to the Northern radicals was a riot which 
occurred late in July in New Orleans and resulted in the killing 
of forty or fifty negroes and the wounding of about one hundred 
and fifty more. The President himself contributed vastly to his 
own undoing. He made an electioneering trip — "swinging around 
the circle," he called it, — and on the tour his indiscretions of 
speech were so many and so gross that he invited much of the ridi- 
cule and scorn which his enemies heaped upon him. At one place 
his remarks were so offensive to the audience that he was silenced 
and driven from the platform. When election day came there was 
little doubt of the outcome. The Republicans swept the North and 
obtained a two thirds majority in both houses of Congress. Thus 
the election showed beyond doubt that the radicals and not the 
President had the support of the nation. 

When Congress assembled in December, 1866, the Republicans, congress 
encouraged by the recent election, took up the fight against John- upon 8 
son with renewed zeal. They set about to hamper him and thwart 
his purposes in every way they could. In the House they would 
gladly have impeached him at once, but they could not muster the 
necessary votes. They attempted to clip his wings by passing on 
March 2, 1867, the Tenure of Office Act which prohibited him from 
removing civil officers of the Government save with the consent of 
the Senate, and imposed a punishment of fine and imprisonment 
if the act should be violated. Johnson vetoed the measure, but his 
veto was overriden. 

1 The Fourteenth Amendment was adopted in 1868, 



520 



BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 



CHAP. 
XXV 



The Great 
Reconstruc- 
tion Act 



Under the 
Iron Hand 
of Military 
Law 



On the same day that Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act 
the great Reconstruction Act was spread upon the books. This 
was the most important law of the reconstruction period. In ac- 
cordance with the spirit of the report of the reconstruction com- 
mittee the act brushed aside the existing State governments and 
established military governments in their stead. The process by 
which the unreconstructed States were to be restored to the Union 
were marked out by the act as follows : 

(1) The ten Southern States 1 were to be grouped in five mili- 
tary districts which were to be put under the command of generals 
of the Federal army. 

(2) These military commanders were to register in each State 
all the adult male citizens, black as well as white — but excluding 
such persons as might be disfranchised by the Fourteenth Amend- 
ment — and were to hold an election for delegates to a State con- 
vention. 

(3) These conventions were to frame constitutions, an indis- 
pensable condition of the constitution being that the franchise be 
extended to the blacks as well as to the whites. 

(4) The constitutions thus framed were to be submitted to the 
voters, black as well as white, for adoption or rejection. 

(5) If adopted by the respective States the constitutions were to 
be sent to Congress for its approval. 

(6) If the constitutions should be approved each State was to 
be represented again in Congress as soon as its legislature ratified 
the Fourteenth Amendment. 

(7) Until these conditions had all been complied with, the States 
should be governed by the military governors and should in all 
things be subject to the paramount authority of the United States. 

Accordingly the policy of clemency advocated by Lincoln and 
Johnson was definitively rejected and severity became the order 
of the day. Stevens's theory of "conquered provinces" was 
enacted into cold law. The South was to be placed under the iron 
hand of military authority and kept there until the conditions laid 
down by her conquerors were complied with. Surely the path of 
reconstruction was to be a thorny one. 

Johnson promptly vetoed the Reconstruction Act and it was as 
promptly passed over his head. There was now nothing for him 

1 Tennessee, having ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, was admitted to 
representation in Congress in July, 1866. 



THE IMPEACHMENT OF ANDREW JOHNSON 521 

to do but to carry out the law, for in so far as he was an executive £|^ p - 

officer he was the servant of Congress. As distasteful as enforce- 

ment was, he went about the task in good faith. He assigned to 
the five military districts competent generals under whose direc- 
tion orders were issued for the holding of elections according to 
the terms of the Reconstruction Act. In the early winter of 1867 
elections were held in all the military districts, and by February, 
1868, constitutional conventions were in session in all the States 
affected by the act. The work of framing and ratifying the con- 
stitutions was pushed forward with vigor all over the South, and 
by the end of June, 1868, seven States, Arkansas, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana, had 
done the things required by the act and had been restored to the 
Union. Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas failed to secure the proper 
ratification of their respective constitutions and were therefore 
compelled to remain outside the Union under the rule of their 
military governors. 

The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson 

While this work of reconstruction was going on in the South the f, dw i n M - 
quarrel between Congress and the President was growing more 
and more acrimonious. The talk of impeachment which began in 
December, 1866, became more menacing as the months passed, but 
substantial charges could not be found. In the summer of 1867, 
however, Johnson gave his enemies the opportunity they so much 
desired. His secretary of war, Edwin M. Stanton, was openly at 
variance not only with the President but with nearly all the mem- 
bers of the cabinet as well. Accordingly Johnson in August, 1867, 
requested Stanton to resign. Now it happened that the Tenure of 
Office Act was largely designed for the express purpose of prevent- 
ing the dismissal of this very man. The secretary, therefore, re- 
fused to resign and the President suspended him from office; but 
the Senate refused to sanction his removal. Stanton, taking refuge 
under the Tenure of Office Act, reappeared at the War Department 
to resume his official duties, and the keys were yielded up to him. 
The President, regarding the act as a palpable and unconstitutional 
invasion of his rights, resolved to ignore it and force the issue. 
Stanton, accordingly, on February 21, 1868, was again told that 
he must go. But still the secretary held on, for a time barricading 



522 BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 

chap. himself in his quarters and remaining there day and night for 

meals and lodging. 

Johnson The long struggle between Congress and the President had now 

Impeached ° . 

reached a crisis, and there was a final grapple. The Senate by a 
decisive vote denied the President's power to dismiss the secretary 
of war save with its consent, and the House by a vote of 126 to 
forty-seven adopted on February 24 a resolution: "That Andrew 
Johnson, President of the United States, be impeached of high 
crimes and misdemeanors." Eleven charges were drawn up 
against the President, the three leading accusations being: (1) 
that the dismissal of Secretary Stanton was contrary to the Tenure 
of Office Act; (2) that the President had attempted to bring Con- 
gress into contempt by his speeches; (3) that he had opposed 
the execution of several of the acts of Congress. 

The trial in the Senate began March 5 with Chief Justice Chase 
presiding. The impeachment proceedings created much excitement 
throughout the country. Sentiment in the North was strongly 
against the President and there was a clamor for his conviction. 
In Washington interest was at a feverish heat. During the trial 
the Senate chamber was crowded with spectators. The defense of 
the President was conducted by lawyers of distinguished ability, 
William M. Evarts being one of his counselors. The prosecution 
was managed by seven representatives of whom Thaddeus Stevens 
and Benjamin F. Butler were the most aggressive spirits. There 
was a great display of eloquence at the trial, and the arguments 
were able and learned. The managers for the prosecution resorted 
to every trick of pleading, and twisted language into all sorts of 
shapes, yet they could not disguise the fact that Congress had a 
weak case. The testimony and the arguments failed to convince 
the unprejudiced mind that Johnson had committed any crime. 
On the contrary, as the trial proceeded it became plainer every 
day that the real purpose of the impeachment was simply to rid 
Congress of an objectionable President. "As a revelation to the 
world of lawlessness and infamy in Andrew Johnson," says Pro- 
fessor Dunning, "the trial soon became farcical. The evidence fell 
ridiculously short of justifying the wild charges made by his ad- 
versaries. It showed that the President, while greatly embarrassed 
by the hostile legislation of Congress and by the conduct of Stan- 
ton, had administered his office with the nicest regard for law 
and precedent-" 



THE IMPEACHMENT OF ANDREW JOHNSON 523 

On May 16 the Senate was ready to take a vote on the articles ^h Vi 
of impeachment made by the House. The last article, adroitly 



drawn up by Stevens in the form of a general accusation, was Ac quittai 
voted upon first. As the roll was called each Senator replied 
"Guilty" or "Not guilty." When the voting was finished the 
Chief Justice rose and announced the result : ' ' On this article, 
there are thirty-five senators who have voted guilty and nineteen 
senators who have voted not guilty. The President, therefore, is 
acquitted on this article." As a two thirds vote was required for 
conviction Johnson escaped by the narrow margin of one vote. Ten 
days later votes were taken on the second and third articles, but 
the result was the same — thirty-five to nineteen. The prosecution 
now lost hope, the Senate as a court of impeachment adjourned 
sine die, and the case came to an end. Thus impeachment was 
defeated and Congress was baffled. 

The radicals were wild with rage. They had made frantic efforts ^^ a j OT 
to get rid of the President only to be foiled in their purpose. Yet theCoun- 
it is the verdict of history that it was better for the country that 
they were beaten. Lyman Trumbull, one of the senators who voted 
for acquittal, said: "It is not a party question I am to decide. I 
must be governed by what my reason and judgment tell me is the 
truth and the justice and the law of this case. Johnson has vio- 
lated no law; it has not been shown that he violated the Constitu- 
tion. I cannot vote to convict and depose the chief magistrate 
of a great nation when his guilt was not made palpable by the 
record. Once set the example of impeaching a President for what, 
when the excitement of the hour shall have subsided, will be re- 
garded as insufficient causes, and no future President will be safe 
who happens to differ with a majority of the House and two thirds 
of the Senate on any measure deemed by them important. Blinded 
by partisan zeal, with such an example before them, they will not 
scruple to remove out of the way any obstacle to the accomplish- 
ment of their purposes ; and what then becomes of the checks and 
balances of the Constitution so carefully devised and so vital to 
its perpetuity? They are all gone. In view of the consequences 
likely to flow from this day's proceedings, should they result in 
conviction on what my judgment tells me are insufficient charges 
and proofs, I tremble for the future of my country. I cannot be 
an instrument to produce such a result." 



524 



BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 



CHAP. 
XXV 



The Sinn 
Fein of the 
Sixties 



The French 
Must Get 
Out of 
Mexico 



Foreign Affairs in Reconstruction Times 

During Johnson's administration the all-absorbing theme of re- 
construction pushed into the background almost completely sub- 
jects relating to foreign affairs. Nevertheless our statesmen at this 
time were called upon to deal with several international questions 
of considerable importance. For one thing the Fenian movement 
required skilful diplomatic action. The Fenian Brotherhood was 
the Sinn Fein of the sixties: its purpose was to overthrow the 
British power in Ireland. For assistance in the work of liberation 
it relied chiefly upon the Irish in America, and it was therefore 
especially active in the United States. In 1865 Fenians from many 
parts of the country gathered in Philadelphia and organized an 
"Irish Republic," with a "Congress" and the usual executive 
officers. The next year armed bands of Irish-Americans attempted 
to invade Canada from Vermont and New York. Since we were 
at peace with Great Britain it was the duty of our Government, 
of course, to check the Fenians in any hostile movement against 
Canada. Accordingly President Johnson promptly authorized 
the employment of the land and naval forces to suppress the fili- 
bustering attempts of the Irish sympathizers. With this show 
of the strong hand on the part of the Government, the Fenian 
movement in America quickly collapsed. The action of the Presi- 
dent was resented by the Irish and praised by the English. "It 
was the United States," said the commander of the Fenian troops, 
"and not England that impeded our onward march to freedom." 
"The United States Government," said the English minister at 
Washington, "acted when the moment for acting came with a 
vigor, a promptness, and a sincerity which call forth the warmest 
acknowledgment. ' ' 

Vastly more important than the Fenian question was the dan- 
gerous Mexican problem which President Johnson inherited from 
his predecessor. It will be recalled that in 1861 the French power 
was established in Mexico. 1 This intervention of France was a 
plain contravention of the Monroe Doctrine, but inasmuch as our 
Government had a civil war on its hands it could only protest and 
bide its time. At the close of the Civil War the Mexican ques- 
tion was taken up in earnest. By 1865 the French power had 
been established in the best parts of Mexico, but the authority 
1 See p. 453. 



FOREIGN AFFAIRS IN RECONSTRUCTION TIMES 525 

of Maximilian, whom Napoleon III had placed upon the Mexican xxv P " 

throne, had never been recognized by our Government. President 

Johnson and William H. Seward, the secretary of state, deter- 
mined not only that recognition must be withheld but that the 
French must get out of Mexico. We could have easily expelled 
them by force, for powerful armies were at our command, but 
Seward had no desire to resort to force. There was indeed a sig- 
nificant concentration of troops under General Sheridan upon 
the Mexican border but the expulsion was accomplished by skilful 
diplomacy. In a tactful, roundabout fashion information was 
conveyed to the Emperor Napoleon that the United States would 
not tolerate either the presence of a French force or the existence 
of any foreign monarchy in Mexico. Napoleon in 1867, yielding 
to the inevitable, withdrew the French troops. The well-meaning 
but ill-advised Maximilian fell into the hands of the newly estab- 
lished Mexican Government, was tried by court martial, and shot 
by a firing-squad. "The fair-haired prince of Hapsburg had 
undertaken a task that would have baffled politicians and generals 
more competent than he; but he was brave to the end and won 
the pity of the civilized world." 

Just at the time that Seward was disposing of the Mexican Alaska 
episode, he was officially informed that Russia was willing to sell 
her American possessions to the United States. This was gratify- 
ing news, for he was always eager to extend the national domain 
and had long had his eyes fixed upon these Russian possessions. 
In 1860, in a speech delivered at St. Paul, he had said to the 
Russian people : "Go on and build up your outposts all along 
the coast, up even to the Arctic Ocean; they will yet become the 
outposts of my own country — monuments of the civilization of the 
United States in the Northwest. ' ' * Accordingly the opportunity 
to buy Russian America was seized upon by Seward with "almost 
comical alacrity." The treaty for the purchase was agreed to by 
the President and the entire cabinet, and was ratified by the Senate 
in April, 1867, with only two dissenting votes. The purchase price 
was $7,200,000. The name given to the new acquisition was 
Alaska. 

Despite the promptness and unanimity with which the treaty 
was executed it nevertheless met with considerable opposition from 

*See E. P. Oberholtzer, "A History of the United States Since the Civil 
War": Vol. I, p. 539. 



526 BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 

£"y P - the outside. Alaska was said to be a "worthless expanse of rock 
and ice not worth the money " ; it was a sucked orange, for its 
fur-bearing animals had been hunted until they were all gone ; it 
was a Polar Bear Garden for Johnson ; it was a frozen wilderness 
that nobody wanted unless it should be to take a solitude, erect 
it into a Territory, and call it Seward. Nobody knew — it was im- 
possible for anybody to know — that we had made a wonderful 
bargain, and that the furs, fisheries, gold-fields, and coal lands 
of the newly acquired territory were worth the purchase price a 
thousand times over. 

Reconstruction Politics 

dominated ^ ^ e ^ me these diplomatic successes were being achieved poli- 
Repubiicans ticians were making plans for the coming Presidential election. 
The Republicans in 1868 were the first in the field. In May they 
held their convention in Chicago and nominated General Grant 
by a unanimous vote. Other candidates were considered but the 
popularity of the ' ' hero of Appomattox ' ' was so great in the North 
that his nomination was assured long before the convention met. 
So far as Grant ever had any political affiliations they had been 
Democratic, his only Presidential vote having been cast for 
Buchanan. But when the Republican leaders found that he would 
accept the Republican nomination they gladly claimed him as 
their own. 

In their platform the Republicans approved the reconstruction 
policy which had been followed by Congress. On the all-important 
subject of negro suffrage they were extremely cautious, because 
four Republican States in the North had just rejected constitu- 
tional amendments enfranchising the blacks. The platform, there- 
fore, in evasive phrase, declared: "The guarantee of Congress 
of equal suffrage to all loyal men at the South was demanded by 
every consideration of public safety, of gratitude, and of justice, 
and must be maintained ; while the question of suffrage in all the 
loyal States properly belongs to the people of the States." As 
far as this had any meaning at all, it meant that in the South 
negro suffrage was to be imposed on the States by force while in 
the North it was to be a question which each State might decide 
for itself. On the subject of the public debt the platform de- 
nounced all forms of repudiation, demanding that the debt of the 



RECONSTRUCTION POLITICS 527 

nation be paid according to the spirit as well as the letter of the xxv P ' 

law. 

The Democratic party held its convention on July 4 in New |^|°ated 

York. In the matter of candidates the Democrats this year were £ ythe . 

J Democrats 

as ready to ignore the test of party allegiance and listen to the 
voice of expediency as were their opponents. They probably would 
have named Grant if they could have got him. They could have 
had as their candidate Chief Justice Chase, who had always been 
a Republican but who — as Lincoln said — was "insane on the sub- 
ject of the Presidency" and was ready to take the Democratic 
nomination. Another available candidate was George H. Pendle- 
ton, an Ohio man popularly known as "Gentleman George." 
Pendleton was a champion of the ' ' Ohio idea ' ' ; that is, he advo- 
cated the payment of a certain large class of government bonds 
in greenbacks, a policy that was popular in the West. Andrew 
Johnson also was a candidate for the Democratic nomination. At 
first Pendleton led in the balloting, but on the fifth day, when the 
twenty-second ballot was being taken, some of the Pendleton votes 
were shifted to the chairman of the convention, Governor Horatio 
Seymour of New York. A stampede to Seymour now began, and 
he was chosen by the unanimous vote of the convention. 

In their platform the Democrats praised the administration of 
President Johnson and denounced the policies of his enemies. The 
Reconstruction Act was declared to be unconstitutional, revolu- 
tionary, and void, and for passing it Congress was charged with 
having "subjected ten States in time of profound peace to mili- 
tary despotism and negro supremacy." Amnesty was demanded 
for ex-Confederates and the regulation of the suffrage was declared 
to be an affair of the individual States. The financial plank 
accorded with the "Ohio idea": bonds not expressly made payable 
in coin should be redeemed in greenbacks, thus "providing the 
same currency for the Government, the laborer, and the bond- 
holder. ' ' 

Public interest in the campaign centered upon the issues of re- 
construction. The Ku-Klux Klan — of which more presently — was 
in operation, and its lawlessness proved to be harmful to the Demo- 
cratic cause. Republican orators gave lurid accounts of outrages 
that were being committed in the South, and insisted that only a 
Republican administration could deal properly with the disorder 
that prevailed. 



528 BINDING UP THE NATIONS WOUNDS 

xxv P " ^he resu lt °f the election was a victory for the Republicans. 

Grant received 214 electoral votes and Seymour eighty. On its 

Election f ace this was a disastrous defeat for the Democrats. An analysis 
of the vote, however, showed that the victory for Grant was not 
so overwhelming as the electoral vote indicated. His popular 
majority was only a little more than 300,000. Seymour carried 
New York, New Jersey, and Oregon, and ran his opponent a close 
race in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. Had the 
suffrage been confined to the white citizens in the former slave- 
holding States and had these States all participated in the election 
— three of them, Mississippi, Virginia, and Texas, did not — the 
Democrats in all probability would have won the election. A close 
study of the returns, therefore, showed that the Republicans were 
holding power by a rather slender thread. 

Fifteenth ^ ie Republican politicians, fearing that the thread might break, 

Amendment bestirred themselves to strengthen their hold. In the political 
situation at the South they saw their opportunity. Their party in 
1868 was successful in several Southern States in which it would 
have been unsuccessful had it not been for the negro vote. Since 
this vote could be secured as a permanent element of strength to 
their party by amending the Constitution they now brought for- 
ward the Fifteenth Amendment which decreed that the right to 
vote should not be denied on "account of race, color, or previous 
condition of servitude." The amendment was submitted by Con- 
gress to the States for ratification in February, 1869 ; and on 
March 30, 1870, when it had been ratified by three fourths of the 
State legislatures, it was proclaimed as a part of the Constitution. 
Thus the conception of radicals like Sumner became a reality, and 
at the same time the negro vote was made safe for the Republican 
party. 

President Grant and Reconstruction 

Rattier" 101, ^ ^ ew wee ^ s after the Fifteenth Amendment was agreed to by 
statesman Congress, Grant, on March 4, 1869, entered upon his duties as 
President. For the discharge of these duties he had no special 
aptitude. The great warrior has seldom been a great statesman, 
and it turned out that Grant while President did little to exalt his 
fame. "Nature," says P. L. Haworth, "had created him for the 
camp rather than the council chamber, for the battlefield rather 
than the finesse of politics. His notions of statecraft were apt to 



PRESIDENT GRANT AND RECONSTRUCTION 529 

be vague, and through a strange paradox, though he displayed xxv ? ' 
remarkable skill in selecting military men he proved a failure in 
choosing civil subordinates. Honest and trustful by nature, he 
could not detect dishonesty in others. Designing men who pre- 
tended to be his friends frequently brought him into disrepute, 
yet even when their rascality was exposed he too often dis- 
played misguided fidelity and refused to desert them 'under 
fire.' " 
That the new President lacked the touch of the skilful adminis- Grant's 

Cabinet 

trator was seen in the selection of his cabinet advisers. In making 
his cabinet appointments he refused to consult with party leaders, 
and in some instances the appointees themselves were not con- 
sulted. The composition of his first cabinet seemed in a large 
measure to be determined by considerations of "personal friend- 
ship or unintelligent caprice." As secretary of state he chose 
Elihu B. Washburne, a close friend to whom he was greatly in- 
debted for his military advancement but a man who had no 
fitness for the duties of the State Department. This appointment, 
however, was only a passing compliment. "Washburne promptly 
resigned, and his place in the cabinet was filled by Hamilton Pish, 
a most competent person. For the Treasury, Grant named A. T. 
Stewart, one of the richest merchants in America. " Stewart," 
says Dunning, "had neither experience nor recorded convictions 
in politics, and his appointment was the naive tribute of the man 
who had never been able to earn in private business more than 
fifty dollars a month to the man who had accumulated millions." 
Stewart, however, was hardly in office before he had to withdraw 
on account of an existing statute, which provided that no one 
appointed secretary of the treasury should "directly or indirectly 
be concerned or interested in carrying on the business of trade or 
commerce." The navy portfolio was given to Adolph E. Borie, 
whose chief distinction was that of being a rich man of Phila- 
delphia and a personal friend of Grant's. "Only unbounded con- 
fidence in the President," says Rhodes, "enabled the country to 
swallow this appointment." For secretary of the interior the 
President named Jacob D. Cox of Ohio, and for attorney-general 
E. Rockwood Hoar of Massachusetts. Cox and Hoar were re- 
garded as well fitted for their places. Taking it all in all, it was 
nearly the poorest body of advisers that a President had ever 
gathered around him. 



530 



BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 



CHAP. 
XXV 

An Inde- 
structible 
Union 



"Carpet- 
baggers" 
and "Scala- 
wags" 



The immediate task which confronted the new administrator 
was to carry forward the unfinished work of reconstruction. The 
method of going about this work could be more rational under 
Grant than it had been under Johnson, for now instead of strife 
between Congress and the executive there could be harmony and 
cooperation. At the time of Grant's inauguration four States were 
still outside the Union. These were Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, 
and Georgia. The last named State, as we have seen, 1 had been 
restored to the Union in 1868 ; but it had incurred the displeasure 
of Congress and had been subsequently excluded. The process of 
restoring these, the last of the unreconstructed sisters, was not 
unduly delayed. One by one they agreed to the conditions laid 
down by Congress, and by 1871 all were back in the Union and 
all were enjoying a full measure of rights under the Constitution. 
The nation was in fact what the Supreme Court in 1869 declared 
it had always been, "an indestructible Union, composed of inde- 
structible States." 

The work of reconstruction, however, was not yet finished. 
Affairs in the South were still in such an unsettled state that Con- 
gress felt constrained from time to time to interpose with the 
Federal authority. One cause of the disturbed conditions was 
the pernicious influence of "carpet-baggers" and "scalawags." 
The carpet-baggers, for the most part, were unscrupulous adven- 
turers who came down from the North with the view of improving 
their fortunes. They received their name from the coarse carpet 
satchels which they carried when traveling. The carpet-bagger 
was not always a white man, for many mulattoes and negroes also 
came down from the North attracted by the opportunity of be- 
coming the leaders of their more ignorant brethren. As a rule 
the white carpet-bagger was a questionable character who could 
not have been elected to a petty office in the Northern community 
which he left. In the South, however, by playing upon the preju- 
dices of the negroes and taking advantage of their ignorance, he 
could hope to secure their votes and rise to the highest offices. The 
scalawags were native Southern men who after the war was over 
joined the Republican party and in politics worked hand ami 
glove with the negroes. The contempt in which the scalawag was 
held by the better class of Southern whites is indicated by the fol- 
lowing explanation of the origin of the word: "A fellow was 

1 See p. 521. 



PRESIDENT GRANT AND RECONSTRUCTION 531 

kicked by a sheep so that he died. He said that he did n 't mind ££-y P - 

being killed, but he hated the idea of being kicked to death by the 

meanest wether in the whole flock, the scaly sheep." A scalawag, 
therefore, was a scaly sheep ; he was a meaner man than a carpet- 
bagger. 

The carpet-baggers, scalawags, and negroes, by combining their corruption 

and hx 

forces, were able in some of the seceding States to secure the con- travagance 
trol of government. Wherever they got a foothold, public affairs 
were conducted in a shocking manner. As the main purpose of 
the white leaders of the negroes was to make money, the corrup- 
tion was shameful. Extravagance took the form of downright 
plunder. The rate of taxation was increased far beyond the ability 
of the public to pay. Debts were created for improvements which 
were never made. In Louisiana the State debt in three years 
mounted from $4,000,000 to $48,000,000. Millions of the public 
funds vanished in what we would now call "graft." In South 
Carolina when the legislature was in session choice wines, liquors, 
and cigars were sent at public expense to the boarding-houses of 
members, many of whom were ex-slaves. In the legislature of 
Alabama the negroes were often so ignorant that they could only 
watch their white leaders — carpet-baggers — and vote aye or no as 
they were told. 

The State which suffered most in these reconstruction days was Society 

Turned 

South Carolina. Here was the spectacle of a society suddenly Bottom- 

• rni Slde Up 

turned bottom-side up. Government was a nightmare. The 
majority of the legislature consisted of negroes, nearly all of whom 
had been slaves. It was the slave rioting in the halls of his master 
and putting the master under his feet. The orgy of extravagance, 
luxury, and corruption in which this "black parliament" sank 
itself was perhaps without a parallel in the annals of legislation. 
A bar and restaurant dispensed fine food and drink to members 
and their friends. Printing in one year cost $450,000. Pickles, 
brandied cherries, and fancy toilet soap figured among the legisla- 
tive expenses. The legislature appropriated $1000 to reimburse 
the speaker of the house for a loss he had sustained by betting on 
a horse-race. The winner of the bet was the negro member who 
made the motion that the money be appropriated ! 

Of course this condition of affairs could not last: the pyramid TheKu- 

7 . Kluz-Klan 

could not continue to stand on its apex. As early as 1866 the native 
white people of the South began to protect themselves against the 



532 



BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 



CHAP. 
XXV 



The Force 
Laws 



The 

Amnesty 

Act 



domination of the carpet-baggers and the negroes. They organ- 
ized a secret society which was known as the Ku-Klux Klan. The 
Klan did everything it could to make the life of the carpet-bagger 
miserable, but its chief purpose was to prevent the negro from 
voting. The native white people of the South never for a moment 
accepted the principle of negro suffrage. All but one of the 
Southern States, it is true, formally ratified the Fifteenth Amend- 
ment, but deep underneath there was a determination not to allow 
the negro to vote if it should be possible to keep the ballot out of 
his hands. Supported by the ruling opinion of the white popula- 
tion, the Ku-Klux Klan made a deliberate effort to shut out the 
negro from the effectual use of his vote, even if it should be 
necessary sometimes to resort to violence. In order to terrify the 
negroes the members of the Klan wore white masks, tall cardboard 
hats, and gowns that covered the whole body. When they went 
on horseback the bodies of their horses were covered with white 
sheets and the feet of the horses were muffled. Appareled in this 
ghostly manner the Klan would visit the houses of the negroes at 
night and threaten them with bodily harm if they should venture 
to go to the polls. Carpet-baggers and scalawags were also visited 
and warned of the danger that awaited them if they did not leave 
the State. 

In carrying out its purposes the Klan often went beyond the 
bounds of the law, committing deeds of violence and in some cases 
causing the death of innocent persons. Its offenses at last became 
so flagrant that Congress took matters in hand and enacted in 
1870 and 1871 what are known as the Force Laws. These de- 
nounced fine and imprisonment against all hindrance and inter- 
ference, either attempted or accomplished, in restraint of the exer- 
cise of the franchise by the negroes or the counting of their votes, 
and gave the Federal courts jurisdiction in cases arising under the 
acts. The enforcement of these laws resulted in the arrest of more 
than a thousand members of the Ku-Klux Klan and in the final 
suppression of the organization. 

Although President Grant was ready to deal firmly with the 
Ku-Klux Klan, he nevertheless felt kindly toward the South. His 
motto was ' ' Let us have peace. ' ' In his inaugural address he fore- 
shadowed a policy of conciliation ; and, as we have seen, before his 
administration was far advanced all the States were restored to 
the Union. Before the end of his first term the work of recon- 



PRESIDENT GRANT AND RECONSTRUCTION 533 

struction, as far as legislative action was concerned, was finished. xxv P ' 

In May, 1872, the Amnesty Act removed the political disabilities 

of nearly all persons who were excluded from office by the terms 
of the Fourteenth Amendment. This act, the last of the great 
reconstruction measures, was a most beneficial law, for it pardoned 
nearly 150,000 of the best citizens of the South and allowed them 
to participate in public affairs. 

Suggested Readings 

Problems of reconstruction : Dunning, pp. 3-17. 

Johnson's policy of reconstruction : Rhodes, Vol. V, pp. 522-535. 

Congressional plan of reconstruction : Dunning, pp. 35-50. 

Congress takes control : Haworth, pp. 20-39. 

Fifteenth Amendment : Dunning, pp. 174-186. 

Fruits of reconstruction : Haworth, pp. 46-62. 

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson : Rhodes, Vol. VI. 

Reconstruction : Lingley, pp. 3-32. 



XXVI 
STARTING ANEW 

AN account of the measures taken by statesmen to solve the 
political problems of reconstruction has just been given. But 
there were other matters than political ones to be dealt with at 
this period. In the South there was a deplorable economic situa- 
tion. In the North there was an ugly aftermath of war that took 
the form of corruption in high places. In the West there were 
problems connected with the sudden and rapid development of a 
vast extent of uncultivated territory. Furthermore, the nation's 
finances were in a state of disorder and there was great dis- 
content in the world of labor. The reconstruction years were 
troublous indeed but they were wonderful years, for they marked 
the period when the country was taking a new start on the high- 
road of progress. 

The Prostrate South and the Prosperous North 

Material The South at the close of the Civil War was prostrate. Immense 

in the u districts had suffered from the ravages of contending armies. The 
planters were poor and deeply in debt. Their fields were neg- 
lected and untilled. Their dwellings were dilapidated and their 
empty barns were falling down. The agencies of transportation 
were in the last stages of inefficiency. "The war," said Carl 
Schurz, 1 "has not only defeated the political aspirations of the 
Southern people, but it has broken up their whole social organiza- 
tion. When the rebellion was put down they found themselves 
economically ruined." An idea of the terrible wear and tear of 
the war may be gained from the following picture drawn by an 
observer in 1865: "Everything has been mended and generally 
in the rudest style. Window-glass has given way to thin boards, 
and these are in use in railway coaches and in the cities. Furni- 

1 Schurz in 18G5 was sent by President Johnson to investigate conditions in 
the South. 

534 



THE PROSTRATE SOUTH AND PROSPEROUS NORTH 535 

ture is marred and broken, and none has been replaced for four £$£[■ 

years. Dishes are cemented in various styles, and half the pitchers 

have tin handles. A complete set of crockery is never seen, and 
in very few families is there enough to set a table. A set of forks 
with whole tines is a curiosity. Clocks and watches have nearly 
all stopped. Hair brushes and tooth brushes have all worn out; 
combs are broken ; pins, needles, and thread are very scarce. Even 
in weaving on the looms, corn cobs have been substituted for 
spindles. Few have pocket knives. In fact, everything that has 
heretofore been an article of sale at the South is wanting now. 
At the tables of those who were once esteemed luxurious providers, 
you will find neither tea, coffee, sugar, nor spices of any kind. 
Even candles, in some cases, have been replaced by a cup of grease 
in which a piece of cloth is plunged for a wick. The problem 
which the South had to solve has been, not how to be comfortable 
during the war, but how to live at all. ' ' 1 

Added to these distressing conditions was a demoralized system ^,7^'"' 
of labor. The South had relied almost wholly upon negroes to Idleness 
till the fields, but the emancipated negro did not want to work in 
the field or anywhere else. For the slave thought that slavery 
meant toil, and after he was set free he supposed that freedom 
meant only idleness. Accordingly he was disposed to try out his 
freedom by refusing to work. Many of the freedmen, it is true, 
remained with their masters on the plantations and worked for 
wages, but vast numbers of them broke away only to roam about 
over the land in gangs, houseless and homeless, not knowing one 
day where food for the next day was to come from. Often it 
came by theft; and there was no conscience to hold back the 
thievery, for in the days of his bondage the slave thought it no 
sin to steal a pig or a chicken from a white man. In the early 
days of his freedom, therefore, the negro was of little use to him- 
self or to his community. He was an economic liability rather 
than an asset. 

It seemed then that the burdens of the South were more than The south 
she could bear. Yet, crushed and defeated as she was, she rallied 
and proved that she was as brave in peace as she had been in war. 
The negroes gradually acquired habits of frugality and industry; 
and white men, adjusting themselves to the new conditions, went 
about the repairing of their fortunes in such earnest fashion that 
W. L. Fleming, "Documentary History of Reconstruction" ; Vol. I, p. 11. 



536 



STARTING ANEW 



in a few years they saw arising around them a new and a better 
South. 

Far different from the conditions that confronted the people of 
the South were those which prevailed in the North. It can hardly 
be said that the North had to start anew, for there had been no halt 
in its progress. No serious problem of reconstruction confronted 
the Northern people. The soil of the Northern States had hardly 
been touched by invading armies, and the industries of the North 
were in as flourishing a condition at the close of the war as they 
were at its beginning. In truth the North in 1865 was as rich and 
was standing as firmly on its feet as it had been in 1861. 

The outlook for the country taken as a whole was so bright that 
President Grant in his first message to Congress indulged in an 
outburst of optimism: "A territory unsurpassed in fertility, of 
an area equal to the abundant support of 500,000,000 people, and 
abounding in every variety of useful mineral in quantities suf- 
ficient to supply the world for generations; with exuberant crops; 
with a variety of climate adapted to the production of every 
species of earth's riches and suited to the habits, tastes, and re- 
quirements of every living thing; with a population of 40,000,000 
free people, all speaking one language ; with facilities for every 
mortal to acquire an education ; with institutions closing to none 
the avenues to fame and any blessing of fortune that may be 
coveted; with freedom of the pulpit, the press, and the school; 
with a revenue flowing into the National Treasury beyond the re- 
quirements of the Government." 

The West in the Sixties 



When the new start was taken countless faces were turned to 
the great West beyond the Mississippi where lay a wild unculti- 
vated region more than a million square miles in extent. During 
the Civil War the westward movement was checked, but it did 
not come to a complete standstill. Seekers after gold, persisting 
in their explorations, pushed out into the wild region extending 
westward from Minnesota to the Pacific. In the spring of 1863 
a rich deposit of gold was found at the headwaters of the Missouri 
in what is now southwestern Montana and at once fortune-hunters 
began to rush to the scene. Those who went from the East made 
the greater part of the long journey on steamboats which ran from 



THE WEST IN THE SIXTIES 537 

St. Louis to Fort Benton, the head of navigation on the upper chap. 

Missouri. The movement of the steamboats was extremely slow 

because of shallows and obstructions, but the profits of their owners 
were enormous. The fare of a cabin passenger from St. Louis to 
Fort Benton was $300, while the freight rate was over $200 a ton. 
The salary of pilots was sometimes as much as $1200 a month. 
Of course civilization moved up the stream with the steamboat. 
In the wilderness along the banks of the upper Missouri, where 
wild animals were as numerous and Indians as fierce as they were 
in the days of Lewis and Clark, 1 towns now began to be built ; and 
before many years had passed Yankton, Pierre, and Sioux City 
were thriving little centers of trade. The town of the gold-field 
was the mining camp described by Professor Paxson : "A single ™l iTlg 
street, meandering along a valley, with one-story huts flanking it Camp 
in irregular rows was the typical mining camp. The saloon and 
the general store, sometimes combined, were its representative in- 
stitutions. . . . The mining population centering here lived a life 
of contrasts. The desolation and loneliness of prospecting and 
working claims alternated with the excitement of coming to town. 
Few decent beings habitually lived in the towns. The resident 
population expected to live off miners, either in the way of trade, 
or worse. The bar, the gambling-house, the dance-hall have been 
made too common in description to need further account. In the 
reaction against loneliness, the extremes of drunkenness, de- 
bauchery, and murder were only too frequent in these places of 
amusement. ' ' 2 

In these rough mining camps were laid the foundations of great Dakota ; 
commonwealths that were presently to arise in the New Northwest. Montana 
The organization of this wild country began in 1861 when the 
region lying north of the forty-third parallel and extending from 
the Red River of the North to the Rocky Mountains was erected 
into a Territory under the name of Dakota. In 1863, with the 
finding of gold in the Boise Basin, Idaho Territory was cut off 
from Dakota, whose original area was more than three times as 
large as at present. The next year Montana was separated from 
Idaho and made a Territory within whose boundaries there was a 
grazing area as large as Illinois, a mining area as large as Ohio, 
and a farming area as large as Pennsylvania. 

1 See p. 229. 

2 F. L. Paxson, "The Last American Frontier" ; p. 171. 



538 



STARTING ANEW 



CHAP. 
XXVI 



The pioneers who went out to Idaho and Montana were guided 
by a lucky star. Seldom were settlers more richly rewarded. The 
gold taken out of Montana alone in the year 1865 was worth 
$16,000,000. But gold was not the only thing that brought pros- 




The West in the Sixties 

perity. "The beautiful valleys," says Oberholtzer, "of the 
Gallatin, the Jefferson, and the Madison were soon occupied by 
industrious husbandmen. The lands were planted with wheat. 
Sheep and cattle fed over ground which a year or two earlier had 
been trod only by the foot of the savage. Better beef and mutton, 
travellers from the East said, they had never eaten. The streams 



Nevada 



California 



THE WEST IN THE SIXTIES 539 

were filled with fish ; wild game abounded. There was timber for chap • 

building purposes and coal was at hand for fuel. In the summer 

of 1865 it was said that the Territory [Montana], though but three 
years had elapsed since the first white settlements were made 
within its borders, contained 50,000 inhabitants." 

South of the gold-fields of Montana and Idaho was Utah x with 
a population which was now approaching 100,000 and increasing 
at a steady pace. Salt Lake City, the most considerable place be- 
tween the Missouri River and San Francisco, had a population of 
possibly 20,000. West of Utah was Nevada, 2 which in 1864 for 
political reasons had been made a State, although its population 
at the time of its admission was probably less than 30,000. The 
''child of the Comstock lode" was still dependent upon its mines 
of silver, which were yielding annually $20,000,000. Beyond the 
Rockies were California with its population of more than 500,000, 
and Oregon with about 60,000. California was still the land of 
gold-miners, although in the southern part of the State oranges, 
lemons, apricots, and figs, were being cultivated with such success 
that an observer declared in 1868 that California's fruit crop 
would bring as much wealth as all her mines of precious metals. 

Although the treasures of the Far West were of incalculable p^g" 10 " 
value they could not be exploited until easy communication was 
established with the East. Transportation was not long in coming. 
The movement for a transcontinental railway, which was inter- 
rupted in the fifties by the impending breach between the North 
and the South, 3 received a new impulse in 1862 when Congress 
passed an act incorporating the Union Pacific Railroad, which was 
to run westwardly from Omaha to the western boundary of 
Nevada. Another company — the Central Pacific — was incor- 
porated by the State of California with authority to begin at Sac- 
ramento and build a line eastward until it should meet the western 
end of the Union Pacific. To encourage the building of the road 
Congress gave the companies ( 1 ) a right of way through the public 
domain; (2) the privilege of taking along the route such timber, 
stone, and earth as might be required for building the road-bed; 
(3) a loan from the Government varying from $16,000 to $48,000 
a mile; (4) twenty sections of land — 12,800 acres — alongside each 

1 See p. 355. 
a See p. 418. 
3 See p. 415. 



540 STARTING ANEW 

xfvf' m ^ e °^ * ne roa &- The public land granted to the companies first 

and last amounted in all to 33,000,000 acres, an area considerably 

larger than the entire State of Pennsylvania. 
a Great rph.e construction of this first transcontinental line was one of 

Engineering 

Feat the greatest engineering feats of the age. About 25,000 men Avere 

employed by the two companies. The workmen on the Central 
Pacific were for the most part Chinese coolies who had been im- 
ported for the express purpose of building the road. On the Union 
Pacific the work was done by Civil War veterans and European 
immigrants, principally Irish. Natural obstacles made construc- 
tion exceptionally difficult and expensive. The Central Pacific 
had to get its iron and machinery by sea, by way of Cape Horn 
or Panama, while materials for the Union Pacific had to be dragged 
hundreds of miles overland from places on the Missouri. The road 
had to mount to a height of more than 7000 feet in order to effect 
a crossing of the mountains. Both roads were built through a 
region that was entirely lacking in the conveniences and comforts 
of civilized life. Between Corinne, Utah, and Reno, Nevada, a 
stretch of 650 miles, only one white man was living. But there 
were red men enough along the route watching the white men with 
jealous eyes and giving him all the trouble they dared; for the 
building of the road was regarded by the Indians as an intrusion, 
and their hostility was so great that the work had to be carried on 
under military protection. A surveying party was always accom- 
panied by a detachment of soldiers, and often engineers and work- 
men were called upon to exchange the theodolite, pick, and shovel 
for the ever ready rifle. But obstacle after obstacle was overcome, 
the laying of track was carried forward briskly — at times with 
feverish haste, — and sooner than had been expected the railroad 
was finished. On May 10, 1869, the two lines met at Ogden, Utah, 
where two men with silver hammers drove the last spikes, two of 
gold and two of silver, into the last tie. 

Nebraska; The new highway electrified the entire central portion of the 
Western country. Its benefits were instantaneous and were felt 
along the whole length of the line. In Nebraska 1 a ribbon of settle- 
ments soon appeared along the road. In 1867 the Nebraskans 
easily secured admission to the Union. Now that they were con- 
nected with the markets of the world by railroad the development 
of their State could proceed at a rapid rate. Wyoming virtually 
'See p. 417. 



THE WEST IN THE SIXTIES 541 

owes its existence to the coming of the road. In 1867 the Union xfvf' 

Pacific laid out the town of Cheyenne, and the next year the 

Territory of Wyoming was created by Congress. Colorado, also, 1 
felt the benefits of the Union Pacific. In 1870 Denver was con- 
nected with the Union Pacific by a spur which ran to Julesburg, 
and six years later Colorado was admitted as the "Centennial 
State." 

The completion of the Union Pacific marked the beginning of £he 
a most remarkable era in railway construction. Within the four Pacific 
years 1869-72 more than 24,000 miles of new railroads were built, 
most of the new lines being in the West. In the summer of 1870 
work was begun on the Northern Pacific Railway, whose charter 
was granted by Congress in 1864 with the view of opening up the 
New Northwest. To encourage the enterprise Congress granted to 
this road nearly 43,000,000 acres of the public lands, an area 
greater than that of all New England. The Northern Pacific was 
to connect Duluth on Lake Superior with Portland, Oregon. The 
beginning of the construction was made near Duluth. As in the 
case of the Union Pacific, the red men stood in the way of building 
the road. In fact they became so troublesome that it was thought 
necessary to send regular United States troops against them with 
the purpose of bringing them to terms. Before they were sub- 
dued, however, they dealt the troops a terrible blow. In 1876 large 
forces of Sioux Indians in southern Montana suddenly surrounded Custer 
a division of 260 men under General George Custer, and killed 
every man including Custer himself. Notwithstanding this reverse, 
the Indians in the end were put down, and the white man, who 
had now become the undisputed master, was permitted to go on 
with his railroad and carry civilization further and further into 
the Western wilderness. 

Never before did settlers pour into the West faster than in the ^.PacT 
decade following the Civil War. This development was hastened 
by the mustering out of the Union troops at the close of the 
struggle. Between May, 1865, and June, 1866, nearly 1,000,000 
soldiers laid down their arms and entered the pursuits of peaceful 
life. Vast numbers of these disbanded men, hardened to adven- 
ture and reluctant to turn back to a quiet life, went straight to 
the West to try their fortunes. They could go out with confidence 
and hope, for the Homestead Act, passed by Congress in 1862, 

1 See p. 417. 



542 



STARTING ANEW 



CHAP. 
XXVI 



Immigra- 
tion 



gave them their land for a song. Under the provisions of this 
law — the most beneficent ever passed by the American Congress — 
any head of a family, whether native or foreign, could, by the pay- 
ment of a small fee, become the owner of eighty or one hundred 
and sixty acres of land simply by living upon the land for five 
years and cultivating it. Immigration contributed powerfully to 
the westward movement in the sixties, for the Homestead Act in- 
vited the immigrant. The invitation was made more alluring by 
another law of Congress passed in 1864. This specifically exempted 
immigrants from military service and provided means for assist- 
ing newly-arrived foreigners to reach the end of their Western 
journey with as little trouble and expense as possible. These favor- 
able laws bore fruit. In 1864 nearly 200,000 immigrants were 
received in the United States; in 1865, about 250,000; in 1866, 
more than 300,000. Nearly a million came in the four years fol- 
lowing the war. Of these by far the greatest number came from 
Germany and Ireland, although Scandinavians were now begin- 
ning to arrive. Irish immigrants for the most part remained in 
the East, but Germans and Scandinavians pushed out to the West 
far beyond the Mississippi. 



Prosperity and Reverses 



Grain Ex- 
portations 



It was easy now for the country to move smoothly along the road 
of prosperity. In the first place, there were boundless opportuni- 
ties for our basic industry. The opening of the trans-Mississippi 
region led to an enormous extension of our agricultural area. Be- 
tween 1860 and 1880 the number of farms doubled and the accom- 
panying increase of improved farm land amounted to about 
120,000,000 acres. By 1880 we were producing 30 per cent of the 
grain of the world. Since this was vastly more than we needed 
we had a surplus for the foreign market. We could export with 
profit, for the competition of the railroads lowered the rates of 
transportation from the West to points on the seaboard. As a 
result our foreign shipments of wheat, which were considerable 
before the war, 1 had by 1880 risen to 150,000,000 bushels a year, 
and the United States had become the greatest grain exporting 
nation in the world. 

*See p. 419. 



PROSPERITY AND REVERSES 543 

More significant than the progress in agriculture was the growth £hap • 
of manufacturing industries. As we have seen, manufactures 



before the Civil War were in a flourishing condition. 1 When the JheManu- 

facturing 

new start was taken after the war they prospered as at no time industries 
before. Between 1860 and 1870 the annual value of manufactured 
products jumped from less than two billions to more than four 
billions of dollars. There were many reasons for this increase. 
The ever-expanding West was giving the Eastern manufacturers 
an ever-expanding market for their goods; the South, recovering 
from the effects of the war, was renewing its demands for the 
manufactures of the North ; railroad building was calling for enor- 
mous quantities of steel and iron ; farmers were using more and 
better farm implements and machinery than they had ever used 
before; improved processes of manufacture were increasing the 
efficiency of American establishments; an unusual influx of immi- 
grants was supplying the shops with workmen and at the same 
time strengthening the market for domestic commodities; improved 
transportation was making it easier for goods to reach consumers 
in all parts of the country. Another thing that did much to 
stimulate manufacturing after the war was the tariff that was 
imposed during the war ; 2 this was so high that in many cases it 
was prohibitive. Where conditions were so favorable it was to be 
expected that manufacturing would flourish, and it is no cause 
for wonder that an official report made in 1869 could declare that 
within five years more cotton spindles had been put in motion, more 
iron furnaces erected, more bars rolled, more steel made, more 
coal and copper mined, more lumber sawed and hewn, more houses 
and shops constructed, more manufactures of different kinds 
started, and more petroleum collected, refined and exported, than 
during any equal period in the history of the country. 3 

But much of this prosperity had no solid foundation. In some speculation 
kinds of commodities there was overproduction and in others pro- 
duction was not well adjusted to the market. Credit was inflated 
and speculation was rampant. Fortunes that had been easily made 
were spent in riotous extravagance. In the railroad world espe- 
cially was there insecurity and uneasiness. Railroad building had 

1 See p. 418. 
'See p. 486. 
3 See D. K. Dewey, "Financial History of the United States" ; p. 358. 



544 



STARTING ANEW 



CHAP. 
XXVI 



The Panic 
of 1873 



Great fires 



been carried far beyond the needs of the country, and in the 
financing of the lines there had been wild speculation. Thousands 
of investors found to their sorrow that their money was gone and 
that no dividends were in sight. By 1873, in truth, the prosperity 
of the country had come to be so spurious and unsubstantial that 
a breakdown was inevitable, although few were aware of the 
trouble that was imminent. 

The crash came in September, 1873, when the great banking 
house of Jay Cooke & Co. failed to meet its obligations. This firm, 
one of the most conspicuous financial concerns in the country, was 
at the time promoting the construction of the Northern Pacific 
Railroad, and it was supposed by the public to be as "solid as the 
eternal hills." Its failure threw the country into a panic which 
spread to nearly every part of the land. Money became scarce 
and with its scarcity came a period of hard times which lasted from 
1873 to 1878. "These five years," says Rhodes, "are a long dismal 
tale of declining markets, exhaustion of capital, and a lowering 
in value of all kinds of property, including real estate, constant 
bankruptcies, close economy in business, and grudging frugality 
in living, idle mills, furnaces and factories, former profit-earning 
iron mills reduced to the value of a scrap heap, laborers out of 
employment, reduction of wages, strikes and lockouts, suffering 
of the unemployed, depression and despair." The prime cause 
of the panic was excessive road building; into road-beds, rails, 
and equipment were put a large part of the circulating capital 
of the country and all the money that could be borrowed 
abroad. 

While the prime cause of the hard times was a frenzy of rail- 
road construction, another influence that doubtless hastened the 
panic of 1873 was an appalling destruction of property by great 
fires. On a Sunday morning in October, 1871, in Chicago, in a 
barn on De Koven Street, a woman was milking a cow by the 
light of a small lamp. The cow kicked the lamp over and broke it. 
The oil caught fire, and soon the barn was in flames. The fire, 
fanned by a strong wind, spread so rapidly that it soon got beyond 
control of the firemen. It raged all day Sunday and Sunday night 
and all day Monday. Before it was checked more than 17,000 
buildings were burned, more than 200 people lost their lives, and 
property worth nearly $200,000,000 was destroyed. The next year 
Boston was also visited by a fire which destroyed 800 of the 



New problems 545 

finest buildings of the city and caused a property loss of about fxvF' 
$80,000,000. 

New Problems 

The panic of 1873 led to great disturbances among working-men, £ New 
and while the authorities were dealing with the outbreaks the Problem 
country found itself confronted by a new problem — the problem of 
maintaining industrial peace. A change was now coming over the 
spirit of working-men : they were asserting their rights in a fashion 
that was leading to industrial warfare. They were gaining strength 
through organization. Before the Civil War, labor organization 
was on a rather small scale and was usually local in character. 
Probably not more than four national trade-unions were in ex- 
istence in 1860. But during the war there was great activity in 
the labor world, although the laborers were not profiteers and 
did not share in the enormous gains that accrued to business men. 
Workmen paid higher prices for the necessities of life, but their 
wages did not rise in a corresponding degree, nor did they rise 
with the increased product of the new machinery that was used. 
In order to protect themselves from hard bargaining with their 
employers and to reap some of the benefits of invention, they 
enlarged the memberships of their local unions and in many cases 
formed national unions. Between 1863 and 1866 ten national 
unions sprang up, and by 1870 there were more than thirty asso- 
ciations of this kind. The total membership of the trades-unions 
was now approaching 300,000. Accordingly, when employers dur- 
ing the period of the panic of 1873 began to lower wages, working- 
men, being fairly well organized, were in a position to resist the 
reduction. 

The resistance at times was accompanied by violence and law- strikes and 

Violence 

lessness. In 1877 when wages were reduced on the Baltimore & 
Ohio, the Pennsylvania, and other railroads, there followed the 
greatest strike the country had yet seen. In Baltimore shots 
passed between strikers and soldiers and a number of lives were 
lost. Pittsburg for several days was in the hands of a mob which 
burned stations, train-sheds, roundhouses, and threatened to burn 
the entire city. The strikers failed in their contentions, but every- 
body could see that a new force was at work in the industrial 
world. "The strikers failed in every case, but the moral effect 
was enormous. For the first time a general strike movement swept 



546 



STARTING ANEW 



CH4P. 
XXVI 



The 

Question of 
Kail road 
Control 



Railroad 
Abuses 



the country. Heretofore, the general eight-hour movement in New 
York City in the spring of 1872 had been the largest strike on 
record. But now the labor problem became a matter of nation- 
wide and serious interest to the general public." x Henceforth the 
labor question was to be a persistent problem in American life, 
always crying for solution but never finding one. 

There emerged at this time another problem that was to vex 
the country for many a day. This was the question of railroad 
control. Attention has already been called to the lavish gifts of 
public land, State and Federal, which were bestowed upon rail- 
roads before and during the Civil War. 2 Public aid in railroad 
construction continued to be extended on a most liberal scale after 
the war. "Perhaps it is below," says H. S. Haines, "rather than 
above, the actual proportion, if I should state that directly and 
indirectly by subscriptions, loans, guarantees, endorsements, and 
land grants, the cities, counties, States, and federal government 
had contributed one-half the actual cost of the railways, as origi- 
nally constructed up to, say, the year 1870. " 3 In most cases these 
gifts were virtually unconditional. Companies were chartered as 
a rule by the State, but a proposed railroad seemed to be such a 
desirable enterprise and the community without a road was so 
glad to get one that the projectors of a line could dictate the terms 
of their incorporation. As a result, before the seventies the rail- 
roads had a free hand both in their transactions with the public 
and in the management of their own affairs. "The railroad cor- 
porations of the United States," said Charles Francis Adams in 
1878, "have from the beginning enjoyed a sort of lawless inde- 
pendence. ' ' 

This freedom from control was abused by the roads in out- 
rageous ways. Free passes were issued in a most scandalous man- 
ner. They were given to lawmakers, executive officers, judges, 
county officials, political workers, and to all classes of persons 
"supposed to be able to aid a railway company in case of political 
or judicial emergency, or, if not so propitiated, to do harm." In 
the all-important matter of rate-fixing, fares and freight rates 
were made as high as it was possible to make them, the rule being 



1 "History of Labor in the United States," by John R. Commons and others ; 
Vol. II, p. 190. 
1 See p. 414. 
* "Railway Corporations as Public Servants" ; p. 38. 



NEW PROBLEMS 547 

to ' ' charge all the traffic would bear. ' ' Far worse than free passes <~h ap. 

and extortionate rates was the discrimination that was practised. 

By varying their rate schedules, making fish of this and fowl of 
that, the roads in countless cases determined who should become 
rich and who should remain poor, what enterprise should succeed 
and what fail, what communities and towns should flourish and 
what should not. 

In the late sixties and early seventies opposition to the evil prac- The 
tices of the roads began to develop, and there arose a popular 
demand for their control. In Massachusetts there was created in 
1869 a State railroad commission, which was given powers of a 
supervisory nature. In Illinois the State constitution of 1870 
declared the railroads to be public highways and the legislature 
passed laws to correct some of the abuses of the roads. But the 
strongest and most effective opposition came from the Patrons of 
Husbandry, farmers of the Middle West who, having first organ- 
ized in 1866, had by 1876 enrolled a membership of nearly 
1,500,000. One of the chief aims of the grangers — as the Patrons 
were usually called — was to secure from the railroads reasonable 
rates for their farm products. By throwing the force of their 
organization into politics they succeeded in inducing the legisla- 
tures of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to fix rates for 
transportation charges. 

The enforcement of the granger laws led to a bitter contest be- ™ e ailroad 
tween the public on one side and the railroads on the other. The ^f t e h c * ed 
railroad owners denied that the legislature had the right to deter- f^ t ™ c st „ 
mine what a railroad should charge for its services. A railroad, 
they contended, was a private business concern that sold transpor- 
tation, and a legislature could no more fix the price that a railroad 
might charge than it could fix the price at which a. grocer might 
sell cheese. Transportation was an article of commerce owned by 
the company, "who as such owner may sell it or not, as it may 
seem fit, or, if it elects to sell, may demand such price as it chooses 
or can obtain. ' ' This argument was brushed aside by the grangers 
as nonsense. A railroad, they said, is affected with a public in- 
terest. Railway transportation is the very atmosphere of the 
industrial world. "As in the physical world no man or beast, no 
plant, or shrub, can refuse to breathe the air without death en- 
suing, so in the industrial world, no industry and no human being 
can refuse railway transportation except under similar penalties, 



548 STARTING ANEW 

xxvF* Since transportation is the breath of industrial life it cannot be 
denied to the people ; it must be supplied to them and must be fur- 
nished at rates determined by public authority. ' ' x But the rail- 
roads denied the right of public authority to regulate a rate at all 
and took their case to the courts. By 1876 the question of the 
constitutionality of the granger laws had been carried from the 
State courts to the Supreme Court of the United States. That 
tribunal in the famous case Munn v. Illinois decided that a State 
had power to regulate charges made by a common carrier. "Prop- 
erty," said the court, "does become clothed with a public interest 
when used in a manner to make it of public consequence and affect 
the community at large. When one devotes his property to a use 
in which the public has an interest, he in effect grants to the public 
an interest in that use, and must submit to be controlled by the 
public for the common good to the extent of the interest he has 
thus created." 

While the grangers won their case, their victory did not amount 
to much, for within a few years the granger laws were either re- 
pealed or modified. Still, the legal consequences of the decision in 
Munn v. Illinois extended to the coming generation. After that 
decision it was no longer claimed that the railroads were mere pri- 
vate business enterprises. Once and for all the principle of public 
control was established. The problem involved in the principle, 
however, was as yet hardly touched. 

NOTES AND CHRONOLOGY 

[This matter is indexed. It does not include dates given or subjects treated 
in the main body of the text.] 

1861 Emancipation of the serfs in Russia. 

1862 Department of Agriculture. (An act was passed providing a Depart- 

ment of Agriculture, the duties of which were to diffuse "useful 
information on subjects connected with agriculture in the most gen- 
eral and comprehensive sense of that term and distribute among the 
people new and valuable seeds and plants." The first department 
was simply a bureau at the head of which was a commissioner, but 
in 1889 it was made a full executive department under a secretary, 
who was mad3 a member of the President's cabinet.) 

1864 Postal money-order system established. 

1866 The Millignn Case. (Milligan was arrested in Indiana in 1864, tried 
by a military tribunal, and sentenced to death. The Supreme Court, 
having been appealed to, decided that the privilege of the writ of 

1 A. B. Stickney, "The Railway Problem"; p. 31. 



CHRONOLOGY 549 

habeas corpus could not be suspended in districts where the action OHAP. 

of the civil courts was not interrupted, and that Milligan was 1_ 

exempt from the laws of war and could only be tried by a jury.) 
Atlantic cable successfully laid. (The cable was landed in Newfound- 
land and reported peace between Prussia and Austria.) 

1869 Wyoming grants complete suffrage to women. 

Legal Tender Cases. (In Hepburn v. Griswold the Supreme Court 
maintained the validity of the law making Treasury notes legal 
tender only in so far as it did not affect contracts made before its 
passage. A year later, when two new judges had been appointed, 
this decision was reversed.) 

1870 Department of Justice created by Congress. 
Weather bureau established. 

1873 Modoc Indians subdued. 
Slavery abolished in Porto Rico. 

Postal-cards first introduced, the postage being one cent. 

1874 International Postal Union was formed among twenty-one nations, the 

United States being one of the number. 
Greenback party organized. 

1875 Mrs. Eddy's "Science and Health" published. 

A bill giving to negroes full civil rights is passed. 

Suggested Readings 

Manufacturing between 1860 and 1880 : Bogart, pp. 408-421. 

Panic of 1873 : Rhodes, Vol. VII, pp. 36-52. 

First railroad across the continent : Dunning, pp. 144-146. 

The South after the war: E. B. Andrews, "The South in Our Own Time"; 

pp. 111-130. 
Passing of the Wild West : Haworth, pp. 100-124. 
New issues : Lingley, pp. 103-122. 
Emergence of labor problems : Bogart, pp. 472—485. 
Scandinavians : Ross, pp. 67-94. 

National trade-unions : Commons, Vol. II, pp. 42-85. 
Expansion ; speculation ; crises 1865-73 : Van Metre, pp. 390-414. 



XXVII 
WHEN GRANT WAS PRESIDENT 

OUR last chapter had to do mainly with Western development 
and with economic problems that arose during the years in 
which the country was entering upon its new life after the Civil 
War. In this chapter the governmental activities and political 
happenings of those years will be the principal theme. In order 
that the narrative may have proper sequence we shall go back to 
the beginning of Grant's Presidency and take up the story of his 
administration where it was left off. 1 

International Matters 

When Grant entered upon his duties there was peace at home, 
and abroad there was nothing to forebode serious trouble. Still, 
during this administration several international questions of great 
importance came up, and the State Department was by no means 
idle. When France and Germany fell to fighting in 1870 the policy 
of the American Government in respect to the belligerents was 
announced in a proclamation of neutrality. Citizens were warned 
that the laws, without interfering with free expressions of opinion 
and sympathy, or with the open manufacture or sale of arms or 
munitions of war, imposed upon all persons within the jurisdiction 
of the United States the duty of maintaining an impartial neu- 
trality during the existence of the contest. 

Close to our shores was a situation which caused considerable 

irritation and friction. Our island neighbor at the South was in 

the throes of a rebellion which began in 1868 and lasted for ten 

years. The aim of the Cuban insurrection was to throw off the 

burdensome yoke of Spanish authority. In America there was a 

great deal of sympathy with the rebels. President Grant was 

strongly on their side and favored recognizing them as belligerents. 

His hand, however, was stayed by Secretary Fish who saw danger 

1 See p. 533. 

550 



INTERNATIONAL MATTERS 551 

in such a course. Won over to the policy of the secretary, the ™ AP - 

President announced in a message sent to Congress in June, 1870, 

that the administration would maintain a strict attitude of non- 
intervention. 

The rebellion dragged on in a desultory, ferocious, and inde- ™ e . . 
cisive way. It was so close to our doors that it was a constant A& ^ ir 
menace to our peace. An incident of the struggle came near bring- 
ing Spain and the United States to blows. In 1873 the Virginius, 
an American-built steamer, flying the American flag, on her way 
to Cuba bearing arms and men to the insurgents, was sighted by 
a Spanish war steamer and after a brisk pursuit was captured and 
brought into the port of Santiago. Fifty-three of the crew and 
passengers were condemned to death by court martial and shot. 
Among those put to death were eight American citizens. The in- 
dignation of the country flamed high, and war seemed inevitable. 
"The many pending grievances of American citizens," says 
Rhodes, "sympathy with the insurgents, desire for the acquisition 
of Cuba partly from greed, partly in order to abate a nuisance 
so near our coast — all these influences combined to magnify the 
supposed insult to our flag at the hands of 'Spanish ferocity and 
barbarism.' " But the war cloud did not burst. Secretary Fish 
promptly demanded of Spain reparation for the bloody act, and 
the Spanish Government showed a disposition to comply with the 
demand. Indemnities were secured for the families of the Ameri- 
cans who had been shot, and it was agreed that the Virginius and 
her surviving passengers should be restored to the authorities of 
the United States. Popular wrath abated somewhat when it was 
learned that the ship had obtained her registry by fraud and was 
not entitled to fly the American flag. 

Early in his administration President Grant, who was some- ^om?ngo 
thing of an expansionist, became interested in a scheme for annex- 
ing Santo Domingo. He urged the policy of annexing it at a 
cabinet meeting, but met with no encouragement. "The blank 
astonishment and dismay depicted on the faces of his counselors 
convinced him that their concurrence was hopeless, and shifting 
the cigar he was smoking, he changed the subject." But he did 
not drop the subject. Without consulting the leaders he negotiated 
a treaty providing for the annexation of Santo Domingo. He 
then tried to rush it through the Senate, but there he encountered 
the powerful opposition of Sumner, the chairman of the committee 



552 



WHEN GRANT WAS PRESIDENT 



The 

Alabama 

Claims 



xxvfi on ^ ore ig n relations. When the vote on the treaty was taken it 

was rejected, and the movement for advancing our power in the 

Caribbean was accordingly halted. 

More successful was the administration in its conduct of our 
relations with England. From the time the Alabama evaded the 
British officials in 1862 1 our Government never ceased to press 
Great Britain for damages, basing its claims on the assertion that 
it was the duty of Great Britain to prevent the vessel from leaving 
an English harbor on a hostile cruise against the United States. 
In 1870, under the direction of Secretary Fish, the Alabama claims 
were pressed harder th,an ever. The moment seemed opportune 
for vigorous action, for Europe Avas now in a state of apprehen- 
sion on account of the Franco-Prussian War. England, not know- 
ing what turn affairs nearer home might take, responded to the 
insistence of our Government by indicating a readiness to express 
regret for the damage done by the Alabama and to submit to arbi- 
tration the question of liability for injuries. 
The Now that the diplomatic ice had been broken, negotiations pro- 

\vashfngton ceeded rapidly. A joint high commission, consisting of representa- 
tives of the two countries, began its session in Washington in 
February, 1871, and by May the Treaty of Washington was signed 
and ratified. In the first article of the treaty it is stated: "Her 
Britannic Majesty has authorized the High Commission to express 
in a friendly spirit the regret felt by Her Majesty's Government 
for the escape, under whatever circumstances, of the Alabama, 
and other vessels, from British ports and for the depredations 
committed by those vessels." The treaty provided that the 
Alabama claims should be referred to a tribunal of arbitration 
composed of five arbitrators, one each to be appointed by the Presi- 
dent of the United States, her Britannic Majesty, the king of 
Italy, the president of the Swiss Confederation, and the emperor 
of Brazil. The arbitrators, holding their sessions at Geneva, de- 
livered the judgment in June, 1872, that Great Britain had failed 
in her duty as a neutral in connection with the Alabama and cer- 
tain other Confederate cruisers, and made an award of $15,500,000, 
to be paid to the United States as compensation for the losses in- 
curred through these vessels. Thus a dispute fraught with no 
little peril was settled in an amicable way. 
^ee p. 454. 



SETTING THE FINANCIAL HOUSE IN ORDER 553 



Setting the Financial House in Order chap. 

xxvii 



More perplexing than the diplomatic questions were the financial strength 
problems which confronted President Grant at the beginning of plfbikf 
his administration. Our financial house was in a state of great Credlt 
disorder. There was a national debt of more than $2,500,000,000, 
but no definite plans had been made for its payment. The holders 
of the bonds did not know in what kind of money they would be 
paid. There was in circulation nearly $350,000,000 of paper 
money (greenbacks) in the form of United States notes. 1 In the 
value of these greenbacks there were violent fluctuations. Now a 
greenback dollar would be worth ninety cents in gold; presently 
it would be worth only eighty cents. Should the national debt be 
paid with the paper money or with gold? 

We have seen that in the campaign of 1868 the sentiment in 
favor of paying certain classes of the bonds with greenbacks was 
strong. 2 But the greenback idea had no charms for President 
Grant. In his inaugural address on March 4, 1869, he said: ''To 
protect the national honor every dollar of government indebted- 
ness should be paid in gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated 
in the contract." In accordance with the wishes of the President, 
Congress at once undertook to strengthen the public credit, declar- 
ing in March, 1869, that it T .vas the purpose of the United States 
to pay its notes (the greenbacks) and its bonds in coin (that is, in 
gold or silver), and pledging the faith of the nation to such pay- 
ment. 

The pledge as to the bonds was kept, but the redemption of the Black 

. Friday 

greenbacks was delayed, with the result that the currency remained 
in a chaotic condition. Gold was virtually a commodity like wheat 
or corn, and its value rose and fell as the value of greenbacks 
fell and rose. In September, 1869, Jay Gould and James Fish, 
two daring speculators, set about to "corner" the gold supply, 
and actually secured control of nearly $120,000,000. As the 
amount of gold outside the National Treasury was limited they 
were able to advance the price of the yellow metal to a point that 
meant disaster to those who needed it in the transaction of busi- 
ness. In New York the bidding for gold was attended by frantic 
excitement and led to a financial convulsion known as Black Fri- 

» See p. 488. 
'See p. 527. 



554 WHEN GRANT WAS PRESIDENT 

xxvh ^ a y- "Transactions of enormous magnitude were made amid the 

wildest confusion and the most unearthly screaming of men driven 

to the verge of insanity. But amid all the noise and confusion 
the penetrating voices of the leading bankers of the clique were 
heard advancing the price at each bid." When the price of gold 
had reached 162 the secretary of the treasury placed $4,000,000 in 
gold on the market. At once the price dropped and the flurry 
was over. There were rumors that the administration had been 
in collusion with the speculators; and an investigation followed, 
in which it was brought out that a brother-in-law of Grant was a 
participant in the conspiracy but that the President himself was 
guiltless. 

"The crime Among the currency laws passed while Grant was President 
was one which demonetized silver and established the gold dollar 
as the standard of value. The demonetization was accomplished 
in 1873 when Congress passed an act which had the effect of dis- 
continuing the further coinage of standard silver dollars. The 
passage of the law inflicted no hardship upon the holders of the 
white metal; for as the bullion in a silver dollar at this time was 
worth about $1.02 in gold it was more profitable to keep silver in 
bullion form than to coin it. In after years, when the silver ques- 
tion assumed an acute form, this law was bitterly assailed as the 
"crime of 1873" and efforts were made to discredit the motives 
of the men who carried it through Congress. But there seems 
to be no good reason for believing that there was anything under- 
handed in the passage of the law. It is true that there was almost 
no debate at all on the question of demonetization, but that is 
explained by the fact that people at this time thought and cared 
very little about silver. 

The It was not silver but the greenbacks that were giving trouble. 

^ecemption rpj^^ as we have seen, 1 amounted at one time to about $450,- 
000,000. After the war was over the Government adopted the 
policy of retiring the greenbacks : as they found their way to the 
Treasury at Washington they were destroyed, just as promissory 
notes are usually destroyed when they are paid. The retirement 
of the greenbacks continued until 1868, when the volume outstand- 
ing had been reduced to $356,000,000. The contraction of the 
currency was opposed by a large number of people who believed 
that the country needed more money, not less money. The opposi- 
te p. 4S7. 



SETTING THE FINANCIAL HOUSE IN ORDER 555 

tion to retirement was strongest in the West, where the expanding xxvfi 

conditions of business required larger and larger sums of money. 

Congress in 1868 yielded to the sentiment against contraction and 
ceased to retire the greenbacks. But inasmuch as they were to 
remain in circulation, it now became necessary to give them the 
same currency value as gold. Congress, therefore, in 1875 passed 
the Redemption Act, which provided that after January, 1879, the 
secretary of the treasury should redeem greenbacks in gold, dollar 
for dollar, whenever they should be presented to the Treasury for 
redemption. In 1878, responding to the wishes of the Western 
people, Congress provided that when a greenback was redeemed in 
specie "it should not be retired, cancelled or destroyed but should 
be reissued and paid out again and kept in circulation." In order 
to be ready for the day of redemption the secretary sold bonds for 
gold and kept this gold in the Treasury vaults as a special fund. 
The amount of gold thus set aside for redemption purposes was 
something more than $100,000,000. It was not expected that all 
the greenbacks would be presented for redemption : when redemp- 
tion day actually arrived virtually no greenbacks were presented. 
The mere knowledge that the notes could be exchanged for gold 
satisfied the holders and no exchange was demanded. Thus the 
greenbacks were given a place in the currency system on an equal 
footing with gold. They amounted in 1879 to about $346,- 
000,000 and that amount has never been materially decreased. 
They continue to circulate, and it seems that they have become a 
fixture in our monetary system. Their presence reminds us almost 
daily of a debt that has never been paid. 

In addition to the currency problem there were matters of R™*f n e ues 
taxation to be dealt with. These proved to be by no means per- 
plexing, for, strangely enough, taxes after the Civil War did not 
seem to the country at large to be very burdensome and the 
national revenues were ample. Customs alone in 1870 brought 
nearly $200,000,000 into the Treasury, while internal revenue re- 
ceipts amounted to more than $185,000,000. Here was enough for 
the current expenses, for the annual interest charge, and for a 
wholesome reduction of the public debt. Several attempts were 
made during Grant's administration to lower the high tariff rates 
which had been imposed in "war time, but very little was accom- 
plished in that direction, for in Congress the manufacturers were 
able to block any serious effort at tariff reform. In 1870, it is true, 



556 



WHEN GRANT WAS PRESIDENT 



CHAP. 
XXVII 



The Tweed 
Ring 



The Credit 
Mobil izer 



there was passed a half-hearted measure reducing duties on a few 
articles, but the reduction was made upon commodities in which 
American manufacturers had but little interest. The rates on pig- 
iron were slightly reduced, but this reduction was offset by an 
increase of duty on steel rails. The internal revenue taxes, 1 how- 
ever, were reduced in substantial fashion. In 1870 the income tax 
was greatly reduced and provision was made that it should speedily 
expire altogether. One reason for abolishing it was its unpopu- 
larity : even people who were exempt from its provisions failed to 
give it their support. 

Corruption in High Places 

Another reason for doing away with the income tax was that 
the laxity in its administration resulted in flagrant frauds and 
evasions. In the days when Grant was President the corruption 
and dishonesty in high places was revolting. How shocking was 
the administration of public affairs in the South we have already 
learned. 2 But wrong-doing in government circles was not confined 
to the carpet-baggers and the scalawags. In 1870 William M. 
Tweed and his nefarious associates were robbing the taxpayers of 
New York City as shamefully as the carpet-baggers were robbing 
the taxpayers of South Carolina. Tweed was the "boss" of 
Tammany Hall and the local leader of the Democratic party. He 
secured control of the city government and plundered the city 
treasury on a scale unparalleled in the history of public theft. 
The favorite method of stealing was by raising the accounts of 
those who worked for the city or furnished it with supplies. For 
example, if a man had a bill against the city for $5000 he was asked 
to raise it to $55,000. When he had done this he received $5000, 
while the remaining $50,000 was divided among the members of 
the Tweed Ring. In this manner a plasterer working on the court- 
house received $133,000 in two days ! After the ring had continued 
its villainous practices for two or three years and had stolen a sum 
variously estimated at from $45,000,000 to $200,000,000, Tweed 
fell into the clutches of the law and was imprisoned, the man who 
did most to overthrow him being Samuel J. Tilden. 

In government circles at Washington fraud and peculation were 

rampant. Th Q reputation of Congress was smirched by the bring- 

^ee p. 487. 
a See pp. 532-534. 



CORRUPTION IN HIGH PLACES 557 

ing to light of the transactions of the Credit Mobilier, a construe- ^§fj 

tion company which built a large part of the Union Pacific Rail- 

road. The stockholders of the Credit Mobilier, who were also 
stockholders of the Union Pacific, were able to award contracts 
for construction work upon terms that would insure to themselves 
extraordinary profits. A leading member of the Credit Mobilier 
was Oakes Ames, a representative in Congress from Massachusetts. 
In 1867 Ames, with the view of warding off any legislation that 
might be unfavorable to the Union Pacific, distributed among 
members of Congress several hundred shares of Credit Mobilier 
stock, giving them to men whose votes he thought he could depend 
upon and conducting his operations secretly. "I don't fear any 
investigation here," he wrote in January, 1868; "I have used this 
[the stock of the Credit Mobilier] where it will produce most good 
to us." But Ames failed to cover his tracks. In 1872 charges 
were made in the newspapers that prominent congressmen had 
been bribed by gifts of stock in a concern called the Credit Mobilier. 
An investigation by Congress followed, with the result that facts 
of a most sensational nature were unearthed. Ames was found 
guilty of selling stock at less than face value in order to influence 
votes in Congress and was censured by the House of Representa- 
tives. James Brooks, a representative from New York, was found 
guilty of corruption and his expulsion from the house was recom- 
mended. James W. Patterson, a senator from New Hampshire, was 
found guilty of corruption and false swearing and a committee 
reported a resolution that he be expelled from the Senate. Schuy- 
ler Colfax, the Vice-President of the United States, was tainted 
with the affair. Other members of Congress were entangled, but 
were declared by the investigating committee to be guiltless of 
corrupt acts or motives. ''But this judgment," says Professor 
Dunning, "saved their virtue at the sacrifice of their intelligence, 
for it was based on the view that they had taken the Credit 
Mobilier stock without perceiving its relation to their official 
capacity. ' ' 

The Credit Mobilier scandal became a subject of discussion at Grant and 

Greeley 

about the time when the Presidential campaign of 1872 was in full 
swing. In that year the regular Republicans met at Philadelphia 
and renominated Grant by a unanimous vote. There were, how- 
ever, irregular Republicans to be reckoned with; for within the 
Republican ranks there was a strong body of dissidents who found 



558 



WHEN GRANT WAS PRESIDENT 



CHAP. 
XXVII 



Prohibition 



themselves "alienated from the party by its extreme measures of 
coercion in the South in support of the Constitutional amendments, 
its constant military interference there, in despite of the prin- 
ciple of local self government, the arrogant temper of mastery 
with which it insisted upon its aggressive policy, and the apparent 
indifference with which it viewed the administrative demoraliza- 
tion which so soon became manifest under President Grant." 1 
The leaders of this recalcitrant group, who were known as Liberal 
Republicans, met at Cincinnati and nominated Horace Greeley, 
the editor of "The New York Tribune," a man of power in the 
field of journalism, but otherwise an erratic person whose appear- 
ance and manner were the joy of the cartoonist. The Democrats 
met at Baltimore. In their convention the Southern element pre- 
dominated. "One could see," said an observer present at the 
convention, ' ' the old politicians who have been so long absent from 
national conventions, famous war-horses and eaters of fire, who 
used to take part in the conventions of the days before the deluge 
. . . and who have since been statesmen in the Confederacy, emi- 
grants to Brazil, residents in Canada. These were old men curi- 
ously dressed in black clothes, wearing the look of planters who 
have been ruined and are still somewhat in a maze over the citizen- 
ship of the negro. Many of these were victims of the carpet-bagger 
apparently and moved one's pity." Although the convention con- 
sisted for the most part of staid, stanch Democrats of the old 
school, it nevertheless for the sake of a dimly-hoped-for victory 
threw consistency to the winds and endorsed the candidacy of the 
"strident Republican" who had been named by the Liberal Re- 
publicans. Such a strange and daring exhibition of the political 
somersault had never been given by a political convention, and 
never before was there such a feast of "boiled crow." But in 
vain did the Democrats eat of the disagreeable dish: Grant was 
reelected by an overwhelming majority. 

Of deeper significance in this campaign than anything con- 
nected with the reelection of Grant or the defeat of Greeley — as 
we now can see through the wisdom of hindsight — were the courage 
and enthusiasm which led the champions of prohibition to put a 
Presidential ticket in the field and thus nationalize the temperance 
movement. We have already seen that this movement had been 

1 Woodrow Wilson, "Division and Reunion" ; p. 282. 



CORRUPTION IN HIGH PLACES 559 

gaining- considerable headway in the forties. 1 In 1851 Maine had chap. 

XXVII 

passed a law forbidding- the sale of liquor, and within less than 

five years her example was followed by Vermont, Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, New York, New Hampshire, Michigan, and Iowa. 
Not all of these, however, followed the example of Maine and kept 
their prohibition law on the statute-books. By the time the Civil 
War began it is probable that in the United States a larger number 
of persons were refraining from the use of alcohol than in any 
other country of the world. During the war people thought about 
other things, but upon the return of peace Prohibition parties 
appeared in several States. In 1869 there was founded the 
National Prohibition Reform party. Three years later this party, 
meeting in convention at Columbus, Ohio, nominated James Black 
of Pennsylvania for President. In every subsequent Presidential 
contest the Prohibitionists had a candidate. They never de- 
veloped much voting strength but, after the manner of the aboli- 
tionists, in season and out of season they kept their cause before 
the country. 

Since there was nothing in the result of the election of 1872 to Salary 

° _ Grab Act 

rebuke the official corruption of the day, affairs at Washington 
after Grant 's reelection continued to be managed loosely and with- 
out regard to the strict rules of honesty. The same Congress that 
was called upon to deal with the Credit Mobilier revelations pro- 
voked the remonstrance of the people by passing the so-called 
Salary Grab Act. This law increased the salaries of the President, 
cabinet members, judges of the Supreme Court, and members of 
both houses of Congress. The President's salary was increased 
from $25,000 to $50,000 a year. The pay of senators and repre- 
sentatives was advanced from $5000 to $7500. The law was made 
retroactive and thus applied to the members of the Congress that 
passed it, so that each senator and representative was to receive 
an additional $5000 for work done during the two years preceding 
the date on which the law was passed, March 3, 1873. The outcry 
against this "back pay steal," as it was called, was so insistent 
that some of the members who received the increased pay returned 
it to the Treasury. When the next Congress met in December, 
1873, one of its first enactments repealed all the increases of com- 
pensation except those of the President and the justices of the 
1 See p. 320. 



560 WHEN GRANT WAS PRESIDENT 

xvvn Supreme Court. The salaries of members of CongTess were ae- 

cordingly put back to $5000; but the popular murmurs against 

the salary grab were slow in dying out. 
Thejvinsky jj. was no ^. j n c on g ress> however, but in administrative circles 
that wrong-doing reached its most reprehensible form. Nothing 
could be more disgraceful than the frauds committed upon the 
Government by the Whisky Ring. This was composed of dis- 
tillers of St. Louis and of several officers of the Federal Govern- 
ment who worked together to defraud the Government of its lawful 
revenue upon liquor ; and it is estimated that in six years they put 
into their pockets nearly $3,000,000 that ought to have been paid 
into the Treasury of the United States. Even the name of Presi- 
dent Grant himself was connected with these frauds, for he ac- 
cepted as a present from a leader of the Whisky Ring a carriage 
and a pair of valuable horses, while his private secretary was a 
member of the gang and a sharer in its profits. Grant, however, 
declared that he knew nothing of the wrong-doing of his secretary, 
and of course he was innocent of any complicity with the ring. 
Grant's administration suffered by reason of the wrong-doing and 
bad faith of some of his political associates, but everybody knew 
that personally the President was as pure and honest as he was 
brave and patriotic. 
The Notwithstanding the President's personal innocence he was un- 

scandai able to protect his administration from the venality of those around 
him. In 1876 a committee of the House found that W. W. Belknap, 
the secretary of war, had committed malfeasance in office, and it 
recommended his impeachment. The charge against Belknap was 
that the post-trader at Fort Sill in Indian Territory had for some 
years been paying from $6000 to $12,000 a year to a friend of the 
secretary's for the privilege of retaining his position — a very lucra- 
tive one — and that a portion of the money had been regularly 
turned over to Belknap or some member of his family. There was 
a popular demand for the punishment of the secretary, but before 
the House took action against him he resigned and thus escaped 
conviction at the hands of the Senate. The House impeached him, 
it is true, despite his resignation, but in the Senate conviction was 
not obtained because some of the senators believed that because 
of his resignation he was no longer an officer of the Government 
and was therefore outside the reach of impeachment proceedings. 



CORRUPTION IN HIGH PLACES 561 

Nevertheless, nobody had any doubt as to Belknap's guilt. His ^hap. 



disgrace was complete. 

A summary of the corruption of these evil days when the nation The 
was at the ''nadir of its disgrace" may be found in a passage of words of 

Senator 

a speech delivered in the Senate by George F. Hoar in May, 1871. Hoar 
"My own public life," said Senator Hoar, "has been a very brief 
and insignificant one, extending little beyond the duration of a 
single term of senatorial office. But in that brief period I have 
seen five judges of a high court of the United States driven from 
office by threats of impeachment for corruption or maladministra- 
tion. I have heard the taunt from fraudulent lips, that when the 
United States presented herself in the East to take part with the 
civilized world in generous competition in the arts of life, the 
only product of her institutions in which she surpassed all others 
beyond question was her corruption. ... I have seen the chairman 
of the Committee of Military Affairs in the House rise in his 
place and demand the expulsion of his associates for making sale 
of their official privilege of selecting the youths to be educated at 
our great military school. When the greatest railroad of the world, 
binding together the continent and uniting the two great seas 
which wash our shores, was finished, I have seen our national 
triumph and exaltation turned to bitterness and shame by the 
unanimous report of three committees of the House and one here 
that every step of that enterprise had been taken in fraud. I 
have heard in the highest places the shameless doctrine avowed 
by men grown old in public office that the true way by which power 
should be gained in the republic is to bribe the people with the 
offices created for their service and the true end for which it should 
be used when gained is the promotion of selfish ambition and the 
gratification of personal revenge. I have heard that suspicion 
haunts the footsteps of the trusted companions of the President." 

About the time the President was being so deeply humiliated The 
by the rascality of his subordinates vast preparations were being Exposition 
made for the exposition which was to be held at Philadelphia for 
the purpose of celebrating the centennial of American independ- 
ence. A prime object of this exposition was to reveal the mar- 
velous resources of our country and to furnish other nations an 
opportunity to exhibit their products. Forty of the principal 
governments of the earth took part in the display. The exposi- 
tion was officially opened by President Grant on May 16, 1876, 



562 



WHEN GRANT WAS PRESIDENT 



CHAP. 
XXVII 



with one hundred thousand persons in attendance. Through the 
summer and the early autumn visitors from every part of the coun- 
try filled the spacious grounds and buildings, admiring the be- 
wildering display of the world's inventions and products and 
realizing as never before the progress America had made. First 
and last the exposition was visited by nearly ten million people. 



The Election of 1876 



Republicans 
Discouraged 



Hard 

Pressed for 
an Issue 



An Abun- 
dance of 

Candidates 



The amenities and pleasures of the great exhibition at Phila- 
delphia served to soften somewhat the bitterness of the current 
political campaign. The Presidential election of 1876 was a hard 
fought battle. The Republican party felt it was fighting for its 
life, and well it might, for the odds were against it. The depressing 
effects of the panic of 1873 * had not yet passed away, and times 
were still hard. The party, furthermore, was discouraged by the 
Congressional elections of 1874, when a ''tidal wave" swept away 
a Republican majority of two thirds in the House of Representa- 
tives and replaced it with a Democratic majority about as large. 
But more damaging and disheartening than anything else was the 
disrepute into which the administration had fallen by reason of 
the many scandals with which its name was smirched. 

In addition to their other troubles the Republicans were hard 
pressed for an issue. They could not, of course, "point with pride" 
to their management of public affairs. They could not pose with 
any grace as champions of reform. Upon questions relating to 
currency they did not differ radically from their Democratic op- 
ponents. Hence when their convention met at Cincinnati in June 
they had to be content with a platform that did little but hark back 
to the achievements of their party in dealing with slavery and 
rebellion and denounce the Democrats as supporters of treason 
and as foes of the nation. 

Although the Republican outlook was dark there were never- 
theless candidates in abundance. Before the convention met there 
was some talk of nominating Grant again, but the suggestion was 
so unpopular that the politicians were afraid to lend it their sup- 
port. The House of Representatives by an overwhelming vote 
passed a resolution declaring that any attempt to depart from the 
precedent established by Washington and other Presidents would 

*See p. 544. 



THE ELECTION OF 1876 563 

be unwise and unpatriotic : this had the effect of putting an end £5vn 

to the third term agitation. Among those whose names were placed 

before the convention were 0. P. Morton of Indiana, Roscoe Conk- 
ling of New York, Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, John F. Hartranft 
of Pennsylvania, and James G. Blaine of Maine. Blaine was nom- 
inated by the famous orator, Robert G. Ingersoll. In his speech 
Ingersoll used the "plumed knight" expression which clung to 
Blaine until the end of his career: "Like an armed warrior, like Bkuneand 
a plumed knight, James G. Blaine marched down the halls of the 
American Congress and threw his shining lance full and fair 
against the brazen forehead of every traitor to his country." 
Ingersoll's outburst of oratory had a tremendous effect upon the 
convention and would doubtless have carried the day had not the 
"plumed knight" been handicapped by certain eloquence of his 
own. In 1866 Blaine had had occasion to cross swords with Conk- 
ling in the House of Representatives, and in the tilting the man 
from Maine administered to the man from New York a tongue- 
lashing that became historic not only because of its incomparable 
severity but because of its influence upon the course of American 
politics. Referring to Conkling Blaine had said: "As to the 
gentleman's cruel sarcasm, I hope he will not be too severe. The 
contempt of that large-minded gentleman is so wilting ; his haughty 
disdain, his grandiloquent swell, his majestic, supereminent, 
overpowering, turkey-gobbler strut has been so crushing to myself 
and all the members of this House that I know it was an act of 
the greatest temerity for me to venture into a controversy with 
him. But, sir, I know who is responsible for all this. I know that 
within the last few weeks, as members of this House will recollect, 
an extra strut has characterized the gentleman's bearing. It is 
not his fault. It is the fault of another. That gifted and satirical 
writer, Theodore Tilton of the New York 'Independent,' spent 
some weeks recently in this city. His letters published in that 
paper embraced, with many serious statements, a little jocose satire, 
a part of which was the statement that the mantle of the late 
Winter Davis had fallen upon the member from New York. The 
gentleman took it seriously and it has given his strut additional 
pomposity. The resemblance is great. It is striking. Hyperion 
to a satyr, Thersites to Hercules, mind to marble, dunghill to dia- 
mond, a singed cat to a Bengal tiger, a whining puppy to a roaring 
lion. Shade of the mighty Davis, forgive the almost profanation 



564 



WHEN GRANT WAS PRESIDENT 



CHAP. 
XXVII 



Tilden and 
Reform 



The Result 
in Doubt 



of that jocose satire ! " In 1876 this sarcasm was still rankling in 
Conkling 's bosom and it continued to rankle there as long as he 
lived. And as long as he lived Roscoe Conkling was a power in 
the Republican party. In the Cincinnati convention he was an 
antagonist of the "plumed knight," with the result that on the 
seventh ballot the nomination went to Hayes. 

The delegates to the Democratic convention assembled at St. 
Louis with a well-defined program which was carried through in 
harmonious fashion. On the second ballot they nominated Samuel 
J. Tilden, 1 an able corporation lawyer, who for many years had 
been pursuing politics as a diversion but always with the view of 
giving the public the benefit of his great talents. The platform 
adopted by the convention resounded with reform as the key-note : 
reform was needed to save the country from a corrupt centralism 
which had honeycombed the offices of the Federal Government with 
incapacity, waste, and fraud; it was needed to establish a sound 
currency and maintain the national honor; it was needed in the 
"sum and modes" of Federal taxation; it was needed in the civil 
service. And reform could only be obtained through a peaceful 
civic revolution : ' ' We demand a change of system, a change of 
administration, a change of parties, that we may have a change of 
measures and of men." 

In this campaign the Republicans for the first time in their 
history were on the defensive. Their candidate was a colorless, 
commonplace man incapable of making a strong appeal to the 
popular imagination. The Democrats on the other hand had in 
Tilden the very leader who seemed to be needed for purifying the 
atmosphere at Washington. But while the Republicans were 
estopped from raising the banner of reform they could wave the 
"bloody shirt"; they could denounce the Democratic party as the 
ally of treason, the instigator of the Civil War, the foe of the 
nation. Where the "bloody shirt" argument failed they had re- 
course to "the general cussedness of all Democrats, their moral 
degradation, liking for liquor, antipathy to 'good men,' and fond- 
ness for brawling, fighting and general deviltry." 

Denunciation failed to turn back the tide that was running 
against the Republicans. The popular vote, in round numbers, 
was 4,300,000 for Tilden and 4,000,000 for Hayes. The early re- 
turns showed that Tilden beyond doubt had received 184 of the 369 

1 See p. 556. 



THE ELECTION OF 1876 565 

electoral votes. South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and Oregon ^vn' 

were in doubt, but inasmuch as the first three of these States were 

normally Democratic almost everybody went to bed on election 
night believing that the Democrats had returned to power. But 
the early returns lacked absolute certainty. If Hayes could secure 
all the electoral votes of all the doubtful States he would have 185 
votes and would be elected : if Tilden could secure only one elec- 
toral vote in any of the doubtful States he would win. The Re- 
publican leaders, taking advantage of the doubt that existed, 
boldly assumed that the victory was theirs and promptly sent out 
from their political headquarters the assertion stated in positive 
terms that Hayes had received 185 electoral votes and was elected. 
Then began the most extraordinary election dispute that ever took 
place in our history. 1 

The scene of the contest at first was in the South, where poli- Election 80 ' 
ticians of both parties endeavored by fair means or foul to secure Returns 
the electoral votes of Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana. In 
South Carolina, where there had been violence and intimidation 
at the polls, the board of State canvassers certified the choice of 
the Hayes electors, while the Democratic candidates for electors 
met and cast their ballots for Tilden. In Florida, where there had 
been much fraudulent voting on both sides, the Democratic electors 
also, having been fortified by a court decision, went through the 
form of voting for Tilden, although the official canvassing board 
certified the election of Hayes. In Louisiana there was the utmost 
confusion — two governors, two sets of election returns showing 
different results, and two electoral colleges. 

As soon as the electoral votes were cast the scene of the dispute who was 

to Count 

shifted to Washington, where the vote must be officially counted the vote? 
and the result of the election declared. Who was to make this 
count? On this question the Constitution gives no answer. It 
merely says: "The President of the Senate shall, in the presence 
of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certifi- 
cates, and the votes shall then be counted. ' ' If the count had been 
left to the Republican president of the Senate the votes of all the 
doubtful States would almost certainly have been given to Hayes 
on partisan grounds, and the merits of the controversy would have 
received no consideration whatever. If the two branches of Con- 

1 For full details of this contest see "The Disputed Presidential Election of 
1876," by P. L. Haworth. 



566 



WHEN GRANT WAS PRESIDENT 



The Gravity 
of the 
Situation 



g™£ gress had undertaken to act separately there would have been an 

interminable deadlock, for the Senate was Republican and the 

House Democratic. If the dispute had been left to a joint session 
of both branches the election of Tilden would have been insured 
in advance, for the "tidal wave of '74" had given the Democrats 
such a large majority in the 'House that they could easily have had 
their way in a joint session. 

The problem before Congress was extremely vexatious, but it was 
one that could not'be safely dallied with or indefinitely postponed. 
"Prompt .action," says Professor Dunning, "must be had to 
escape anarchy at the expiration of Grant's term on March 4, 
1877. For, quite in keeping with the other features of this per- 
plexing time, the same irreconcilable difference of opinion that 
prevailed as to how the election should be completed, prevailed as 
to what should be done if it should not be completed. Should the 
president of the Senate assume the executive power? Or should 
President Grant remain in control until his successor should be 
found? Either course, and others that were suggested, would in- 
evitably provoke resistance and civil war." 

To settle the dispute Congress availed itself of an agency that 
Commission was in part at least outside itself: it passed a bill providing for 
the appointment of an electoral commission to consist of five sena- 
tors, five representatives, four justices of the-Supreme Court named 
in the bill, and a fifth justice to be chosen by the four justices. 
Two of the designated justices were known to be Democrats and 
two Republicans. The House was to appoint three Democrats 
and two Republicans, and the Senate three Republicans and two 
Democrats. After the organization of the commission was com- 
pleted its membership consisted of eight Republicans and seven 
Democrats. The law creating the commission provided that if 
while the vote was being counted in Congress the question should 
arise as to which return, of two or more from the same State, was 
the valid one, the matter should be referred to the commission, 
whose decision should be conclusive unless disapproved by both 
Houses acting separately. This meant virtually that all vital ques- 
tions connected with the count were to be settled by the com- 
mission. 

The counting of the electoral vote began in February in the 
manner prescribed hy the Constitution, the president of the 
Senate opening the certified lists of electoral votes, and taking up 



The 

Electoral 



Hay eg 

Declared 

Elected 



THE ELECTION OF 1876 567 

the States in alphabetical order. When Florida was reached, the ™vn 



returns became a matter of dispute and were referred to the 
electoral commission for its decision. After receiving the evidence 
and listening to the arguments of counsel, the commission voted 
by eight to seven that the electoral votes of Florida belonged to 
Hayes. Likewise in the cases of Louisiana, Oregon, and South 
Carolina the commission decided by a vote of eight to seven that 
the electoral votes should all be counted for the Republican candi- 
date. In each case the House voted to reject the finding of the 
commission, but the Senate in each case voted to sustain it. Thus 
by the award of the commission Hayes received all the electoral 
votes of all the doubtful States ; and in the early morning hours of 
March 2 the president of the Senate announced to the two houses 
the election of Rutherford B. Hayes by a majority of one vote. 

It was fortunate indeed that the count was made in a regularly The Peace 

• n of the 

legalized way, for the public mind was inflamed and the peace of Nation 
the nation was threatened. "The seriousness of this crisis of three 
long months," says Rhodes, "can hardly be overestimated; and 
that the issue failed to satisfy the rigorous demands of justice is a 
consideration whose great weight becomes little when opposed to 
the true significance of the actual achievement. When no settle- 
ment seemed possible a settlement was nevertheless effected ; and 
effected peaceably and according to due process of law under con- 
ditions which in nearly every other country must have inevitably 
led to civil war. A careful legislative act adopted by Congress 
instituted a great lawsuit that was tried under the forms of law in 
the United States Court-room by fifteen jurists. The decision, 
though deemed a gross injustice by more than half of the country, 
was submitted to without a suggestion of forcible resistance worth 
considering. The Democratic party in Congress and out of it and 
especially the Southern wing . . . won for themselves the respect 
and admiration of the country and of the world." 

Suggested Readings 

General Grant: Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 313-332. 

Overthrow of the Tweed Ring : Rhodes, Vol. VI. pp. 392-411. 

The Greeley campaign : Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 333-335. » 

Election of 187G : Haworth, pp. 81-03 ; Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 356-393. 

In President Grant's time: Lingley, pp. 32-54. 

The Ku-Klux Klan : Dunning, pp. 121-123, 186-188. 



XXVIII 
PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 

BY March, 1877, when Hayes entered upon the Presidency, the 
evils which followed in the wake of the Civil War were rapidly 
vanishing. The country was approaching an era of industrial and 
commercial development more striking than any that had gone 
before. In this chapter the story of this wonderful growth will be 
carried through the years in which Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur 
were at the head of our Government, and an account of the admin- 
istrations of those Presidents will be given. 

Hayes; Garfield; Arthur 
a President Haves came to the Presidency under a cloud. There was a nation- 

Under a J J 

cloud wide suspicion that his title to the office was not clear. And the 

grounds of the suspicion were not baseless. In the struggle for the 
electoral votes of the doubtful States there was trickery and over- 
reaching. Nearly all the votes were for sale, and Hayes got them 
all. Besides having to contend with the handicap of popular dis- 
trust, the new President was thwarted in his plans by a hostile 
majority in one or both houses of Congress during his entire term 
of office. Worse than all, within six months after his inauguration 
he lost the support of the leaders of his own party, and he never 
regained their support. Perhaps no administration was ever ush- 
ered in under more adverse conditions. 

a Man Haves was a man of solid merit. It is true that at the time of 

of Solid J 

Merit his nomination he was not widely known outside his own State, yet 

he had back of him a useful and honorable career. He had been 
the valedictorian of his class at college and had attended the 
Harvard School of Law. In the Civil War he fought bravely on 
the Union side, entering the army as a major and rising to the rank 
of major-general. He was in many battles and was wounded several 
times. While in the saddle fighting with Grant against Lee he was 
nominated for Congress. A friend wrote to him saying that he 

568 



HAYES; GARFIELD; ARTHUR 569 

ought to leave the army and come to Ohio in order to take part in chap. 

J XXVIII 



the political campaign. Hayes replied: "An officer fit for duty 
who, at such a time as this, would abandon his post to electioneer 
for a seat in Congress ought to be scalped." He served for two 
terms- in Congress, and three times he was elected governor of Ohio. 

It turned out that this substantial, conscientious American was The End of 

Military 

precisely the kind of person the country needed for its President. Rule in the 

South 

The nation needed above all things a cessation of bitterness between 
the North and the South, and at the outset Hayes undertook to 
establish peaceful and harmonious relations between the two sec- 
tions. From most of the former Confederate States the Federal 
troops x had been removed, with the result that Republican rule, 
that is, the rule of the carpet-baggers and blacks, had been shaken 
off and the Democrats restored to power. Louisiana and South 
Carolina, however, were still in the position of "conquered prov- 
inces," with their carpet-bag governments upheld by United States 
troops. Hayes, determined that all military rule in the South 
should be brought to an -end and that the Southern people should 
be left free to fight their political battles in their own way, ordered 
in April, 1877, the Federal troops in these two States withdrawn. 
The soldiers had hardly departed before the carpet-bag govern- 
ments collapsed. The Democrats seized the reins of power, and 
Republican rule in the South was a thing of the past. 

By withdrawing the troops the President incurred the displeasure The course 
of the radical element of his party. He justified his action as both President 

Justified 

a constitutional duty and a much-needed measure for the promotion 
of national harmony. In turn he was justified by the march of 
events. Within a year after the removal of the troops he could 
declare that their withdrawal ' ' had brought progress to every part 
of that section of the country once the theater of unhappy civil 
strife, a patriotic attachment to the Union, the resumption of 
Southern industries, and the disappearance of lawlessness." So 
marked were the effects of the President 's policy of restoring home 
rule, so rapidly did the wounds caused by the war heal and the 
feelings of enmity between the North and the South pass away, 
that the removal of the troops must be regarded as the last and best 
event in the history of reconstruction. 

But notwithstanding the blessings which attended the President's p^ sident , s 
policy of pacification it won for him few laurels, whether at the ^ n P t opu " 

1 See p. 520. 



The Bland- 
Allison 
Silver Bill 



570 PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 

xxviri North or at the South. His Republican associates charged him 

with having abandoned the cause of the negro and with having 

surrendered the principles of his party. The Democrats refused 
to applaud him for his liberal treatment of the South because they 
could not forget the election of 1876 nor rid their minds of the 
notion that he was a usurper. Viewed as a matter affecting his 
leadership, therefore, his conciliatory course did him more harm 
than good. This, however, could make little difference to a man 
who was disposed to do the right thing, let the consequences be 
what they might. 

With a Democratic House throwing obstacles in his way, and 
with politicians of his own party unfriendly to him, Hayes could 
hardly hope for a brilliant administration. The only important law 
enacted by Congress during his Presidency was a measure to which 
he was opposed. This was the Bland-Allison Silver Bill, which was 
brought forward in 1878 with the purpose of undoing the work done 
by the demonetization of silver five years before. 1 It was the wish 
of the silver men led by Richard P. Bland, a representative from 
Missouri, to repeal the law of 1873 and restore the free and unlim- 
ited coinage of silver, so that the white metal might again have 
"its ancient legal equality with gold as a debt-paying money." 
Bland carried his bill through the House, but in the Senate Allison 
of Iowa secured an amendment restricting the amount to be coined. 
The bill as amended provided that the secretary of the treasury 
should buy not less than $2,000,000 nor more than $4,000,000 worth 
of silver bullion each month and coin it into silver dollars. When 
the bill went to the President it was vetoed, but the veto was not 
sustained. 

The bill came out of the West, and the debate on it and the voting 
showed that in the Western country there was a sentiment for the 
free coinage of silver that could not be comfortably ignored. The 
interests of the creditor classes and of Eastern business men called 
for the gold standard, but the owners of silver-mines and the debtor 
farmer of the West were insistent in their demands for the restora- 
tion of bimetallism. 
Hayes Toward the end of his term President Hayes could write in his 

Politicians diary: "'I think I have the confidence of the country." To a 
large extent this was doubtless true. One of his successors, Wood- 
row Wilson, says of him: "He was upright, public spirited, in- 
J Seo p. 554. 



HAYES; GARFIELD; ARTHUR 571 

clined to serve the country unselfishly and in the interest of sound chap 

policy." Carl Schurz said of him : "Public station in this country 

has seldom, if ever, been graced by a man of finer character or 
higher and more conscientious conception of duty and more patri- 
otic motives." But the leaders who controlled the machinery of 
the Republican party did not share in this confidence and esteem. 
In the minds of practical politicians Hayes was simply an "old 
granny," a "goody goody" unfit for the sinful world in which he 
lived. 

Hayes favored a single six-year term for the President, believing James a. 
that the limited term would prevent selfish scheming for another 
period of power. Hence in his speech of acceptance he announced 
his "inflexible purpose, if elected, not to be a candidate for election 
to a second term." This declaration, coupled with the opposition 
of the party managers, made him unavailable as a candidate in the 
contest of 1880. In that year Blaine again asked for the nomina- 
tion; but again "the plumed knight" was opposed by the lordly 
Conkling, 1 who made a frenzied effort to secure the nomination for 
ex-President Grant. At the Republican convention which met on 
June 2 at Chicago, Conkling, in spectacular fashion, presented the 
great soldier's name in a speech which began: "And when asked 
what State he hails from, our sole reply shall be : ' He hails from 
Appomattox and its famous apple-tree. ' ' ' On the first ballot Grant 
received 304 votes and Blaine 284. The voting continued during 
two days, and on every ballot Conkling with his band of faithful 
"Stalwarts" — as his followers were called — stood firm for their 
hero. The Blaine delegates stood equally firm, but thirty-four 
ballots were taken without any prospect of success for the man 
from Maine. On the thirty-fifth ballot a number of the Blaine 
delegates transferred their votes to James A. Garfield of Ohio. 
On the next ballot Garfield received 399 votes and was nominated. 
As a solace to Conkling and the Grant men Chester A. Arthur of 
New York was given the nomination for Vice-President. 

The Democratic convention, which met at Cincinnati, was not a winfieids. 
very enthusiastic assemblage. Many of the leaders of the party had 
hoped that Tilden would again be their "standard-bearer" and 
that the "fraud of 1876" would furnish them with an issue. But 
just before the convention met Tilden made it known that he did 
not desire the nomination. It was necessary therefore for the 

1 See p. 563. 



572 



PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 



CHAP. 
XXVIII 



Old Issues 
Dead or 
Dying 



Garfield's 
Career 



delegates to select another man. Their choice fell upon a son of 
Pennsylvania, Winfield S. Hancock, a veteran of both the Mexican 
and Civil wars and a general who had distinguished himself for 
bravery in many engagements. 

The campaign of 1880 was quiet and uneventful. There was little 
of the sectional bitterness that in previous campaigns had shown 
itself in ugly forms. Republican orators, it is true, attempted in 
some places to excite animosity against the South by waving the 
"bloody shirt," but they usually met with a cool reception. The 
Democrats harped on the "fraud of 1876" and attempted to connect 
Garfield with the Credit Mobilier affair, but it seemed that the 
people had forgotten both the fraud and the scandal. The only 
issue discussed was the tariff; and on that both sides blew hot and 
cold. The Democrats promised a tariff for revenue with incidental 
protection, and the Republicans a tariff for protection with inci- 
dental revenue. The most important question the voters were called 
upon to decide related to the spoils of office : should the Republicans 
be permitted to hold on to the offices or should they be turned over 
to the Democrats? Old issues, indeed, were dead or dying, and the 
people were neither thinking nor caring much about politics. The 
listless contest resulted in a victory for Garfield and Arthur, 
although the thread by which the Republicans retained power was 
almost as slender as it had been in 1876. There were nearly nine 
million votes cast for Garfield and Hancock together, yet Garfield's 
majority was only 7018. 

Although Garfield was known asa" dark horse ' ' candidate at the 
time of his election, he was by no means a cipher in public affairs. 
He had been born in 1831 in a humble log cabin not far from 
Cleveland. While he was still an infant his father died and left 
the family in poverty. At the age of fifteen young Garfield drove 
mules on the tow-path of a canal. In the campaign one of the songs 
began : 

He early learned to paddle well his own forlorn canoe ; 
Upon Ohio 's grand canal he held the helium true. 



He taught school for a while, was graduated at what is now Hiram 
College, and became a professor in that institution. Like Hayes, 
he served in the Civil War on the Union side and rose to be a 
major-general. Like Hayes, too, he was elected to Congress while 
he was in the field fighting. After serving several terms in the 



HAYES; GARFIELD; ARTHUR 573 

House of Representatives he was chosen United States senator, £hap. 

but before he took his seat in the Senate he was nominated for the 

Presidency. 

Garfield's administration began under the most favorable condi- wrath" 6 ' 8 
tions and with every manifestation of popular good-will. But soon 
there was trouble. When choosing his cabinet he selected Blaine 
as his secretary of state. As was to be expected, this appointment 
excited the wrath of Conkling, who was now a member of the 
Senate. But the President, supported by the powerful Blaine, 
ventured to brave the New Yorker's fury. Without consulting 
Conkling or his colleague, Thomas C. Piatt, he appointed W. H. 
Robertson for the coveted position of collector of the port of New 
York. The gauntlet was now thrown down and the battle was on. 
Disregarding considerations of party harmony, Conkling attacked 
the President at every point where his armor was weak, but in vain ; 
the onslaught did not bring the rejection of Robertson's name. 
Smarting under failure and giving way to petulancy Conkling 
resigned his seat in the Senate, his fellow-senator Thomas C. 
Piatt — "Me Too" Piatt — joining him in taking leave. In order to 
secure a vindication for the stand they had taken, the two senators 
now appealed to the New York legislature for reelection; but to 
their surprise and mortification the legislature elected two other 
men. Conkling never again held public office, but his influence in 
New York affairs was not gone, and we shall hear of him again. 

While in the midst of this bitter contest with the New York ThePresi- 

dent Killed 

senators over the distribution of patronage, President Garfield was by an 

Office- 

made the victim of an assassin's bullet. On July 2, 1881, in the seeker 
Pennsylvania Railroad Station at Washington he was shot in the 
back by a man who was an unbalanced fanatic and at the same 
time a disappointed office-seeker. The wounded President was 
taken to Elberon, New Jersey, where he lay for several months 
fighting against death with splendid courage. He slowly suc- 
cumbed and on September 19 he passed away. 

On the dav after Garfield's death Vice-President Arthur was President 

^ , Arthur 

sworn in as President. Arthur, as we have seen, had been nomi- 
nated for the purpose of placating the New York Stalwarts. His 
political associates were of the machine type and he was regarded 
by many as being himself a "pot-house" politician. There were 
fears, therefore, that the affairs of the nation under the new 
President would be conducted on a low plane and in the interest 



574 



PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 



CHAP. 
XXVIII 



Manufac- 
turers in 
the Saddle 



The 

Movement 
of Civil 
Service 
Reform 



of a particular faction. But these fears were needless: President 
Arthur performed the duties of his high office in a conscientious 
manner and with ability and dignity. "From the very outset," 
says H. T. Peck, "he was the President of no faction, of no party, 
but of the entire people. Firm, wise, and vigilant, his administra- 
tion was one of the very best in all our history. To his former 
political allies he showed no undue favor. To his former enemies 
he manifested no unfairness." 

President Arthur in his first annual message called attention to 
the fact that an excessive revenue was pouring into the Treasury, 
the surplus being considerably more than $100,000,000. As a 
remedy for this swollen condition of the national purse he suggested 
that the tariff be revised and the rates reduced in accordance with 
the recommendations of a tariff commission. A commission was 
appointed and an extended study of the matter made, and a report 
was submitted recommending a 20 per cent reduction in existing 
rates. Ostensibly the report was used as the foundation of a tariff 
bill which was drawn up by the Senate; but in reality in the 
framing of the bill the findings of the commission received but 
little attention. The controlling forces in the preparation of the 
measure were the lobbyists who filled the corridors of the Capitol 
guarding the interests of the manufacturers. For the manufac- 
turer was still in the saddle. After a long game of legislative 
battledore and shuttlecock a bill was at last passed in 1883 reducing 
the internal revenue taxes materially, but lowering tariff duties so 
slightly that the reduction was scarcely perceptible. On the cheaper 
grades of woolen and cotton goods rates were reduced about 3 per 
cent, but on the finer goods the rates were raised. The general level 
of duties was left at about the point where it had been at the close 
of the Civil War. "The kaleidoscope," said "The Nation," "has 
been turned a hair's breadth, and the colors transposed a little, but 
the component parts are the same. ' ' 

It was to the credit of President Arthur that he advocated a 
much-needed reform in the Federal civil service. The custom 
introduced by Jackson of rewarding political friends by giving 
them offices x had led to abuses which became greater as the number 
of appointees became larger. President Grant did not like the 
custom. "The present system," he said, "does not secure the best 
men, and often not even fit men for public places. ' ' Hayes made a 

1 See p. 2(38. 



INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS, 1877-85 575 

strong fight against the spoils system, but Congress failed to sup- xxvni 

port him in his plans for reform. Senators and representatives ■ 

did not take kindly to a movement that threatened to deprive them 
of the power of raising campaign funds by assessments on office- 
holders and of giving out offices to henchmen. But the cause of 
civil service reform was carried forward by George William Curtis 
and other public-spirited leaders with an insistence and a serious- 
ness that gave the movement a moral tone. Politicians sneered at 
"snivel service," as they dubbed the proposed merit system, and 
the reformers were called " holier-than-thous, " yet Curtis and his 
band went on with their agitation. 

By Garfield's time the country was aroused to the necessity of Thecivii 

.... • t-> Service Law 

reform, and the politicians were giving it lip-service. But it was 
not until a President had been assassinated by the hands of an 
office-seeker that the lawmakers were spurred to take measures for 
abating the evils of the spoils system. In 1883 Congress passed the 
Pendleton Act, a law which had for its purpose the establishment 
of a "merit system" in the making of appointments. This Civil 
Service Law authorized the President to appoint three commis- 
sioners — the civil service commission — who should hold examina- 
tions to ascertain the qualifications of persons seeking office. The 
law guaranteed appointment upon the basis of merit, for it pro- 
vided that only those persons should be appointed who should have 
passed the examinations and should be best qualified. The act 
brought only a few of the offices under the merit system, and only 
a small portion of the evils of the spoils system was immediately 
cured. Yet as the years went by the principles of the law were 
given a wider and wider application, with the result that more and 
more of the corrupting influences of party politics were eliminated 
from the administration of national affairs. 

Industrial Progress, 1877-85 

During the years 1877-85, in which Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur 
were Presidents, the nation, politically regarded, was in the dol- 
drums. In all this time Congress gave the country only one reform 
of lasting importance — the Civil Service Law of 1883. But if the 
period was barren of political results, in other ways it was the day 
of wonderful things. The rate at which the country was moving 
along may be learned from the table of progress given below : 



576 PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 

CHAP. TABLE OP PROGRESS IN THE UNITED STATES BETWEEN 

XXVI " 1870 AND 1890 

1870 1880 1890 

Farms and farm property... $8,900,000,000 1 $12,180,000,000 $16,082,000,000 

Farm products 1,950,000,000 2,212,000,000 2,400,000,000 

Products of manufacturing. 4,232,000,000 5,309,000,000 9,372,000,000 

Imports of merchandise 430,000,000 668,000,000 789,000,000 

Exports of merchandise 392,000,000 835,000,000 837,000,000 

Miles of railroad 53,000 93,000 167,000 

Total wealth 30,000,000,000 43,000,000,000 65,000,000,000 

Population 38,500,000 50.000,000 63,000,000 

Urban population 8,000,000 11,300,000 18,200,000 

Pupils enrolled in public 

schools 7,000,000 10,000,000 13,000,000 

Wage-earners 2,053,000 2,730,000 4,251,000 

a New Many were the factors which were working together to produce 

the astonishing results shown in this table. For one thing, a new 
South was now contributing much to the national prosperity. The 
Federal army was no longer interfering with polling booths, and 
the whites of the South in one way and another were managing to 
maintain their supremacy, although in doing this they often de- 
prived the negro of rights which it was the plain purpose of the 
Fifteenth Amendment to give him. And the South by this time 
had found itself industrially. The labor system was being adjusted 
to new conditions and the resources of the Southern States were 
being exploited on a scale never before known. In 1884, when a 
great cotton exposition was held in New Orleans, it was shown that 
the South was actually raising more cotton than she raised before 
the Civil War. In the eighties our cotton exports were nearly 
twice as great as they were in the fifties. By this time, too, the 
South was beginning to develop her rich mines of coal and iron, 
something she had never hitherto done. Before the war she 
relied altogether upon agiculture, and all she cared to raise 
was cotton. Now she was converting her ores into iron, and 
the products of the iron and steel mills of Alabama and 
Tennessee were competing in the market with the mills of the 
North. She was also developing her coal-mines. By 1880 she was 
operating 400 mines and producing nearty one eighth of all the coal 
mined in the United States. Besides adding mining to her indus- 
tries she was engaging in manufacturing. Before the war there 

*The numbers are stated roundly and are based on the "Statistical Abstract" 
of 1910. 




ovnckA CX. £c(«^>o-ki 



INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS, 1877-85 577 

was very little spinning and weaving in the Southern States, but ^vni 

by 1885 mill towns were springing up in so many parts of the 

South that the effects of the industrial revolution were becoming 
visible. In the development of the new South the negroes were 
doing their full share and were rendering better service than they 
had rendered in the days of their bondage. "We have found out," 
said a distinguished Southerner, Henry W. Grady, in 1886, "that 
in the general summing up the free negro counts for more than he 
did as a slave. ' ' 

Much of the progress in the South was due to a network of new N T Lines 

' of Railroads 

railway lines that were penetrating isolated regions and bringing 
them into touch with the world of trade. And much of the prog- 
ress of the nation taken as a whole was due to new lines of railroad. 
Never at any other period in our history did railroad building go 
on so fast. Between 1877 and 1885 nearly 50,000 miles of new 
track were laid. The capital invested in railways increased by 
more than $3,000,000,000 during the five years preceding 1885. 

The network was spread over every portion of the country, but it ^^| ron 
was in the Far West that new lines were constructed on the grand- £ cr ?? s th ? 

° Continent 

est scale. By 1880 the Northern Pacific 1 had been built from 
Duluth clear across Minnesota and Dakota, and in 1883 trains 
bearing guests from Chicago and Portland met at a point in 
Montana, where a spike was driven to mark the completion of the 
great highway through the Northwest. Even earlier than this, 
transcontinental highways were opening up a new Southwest. In 
1881 a railroad, which was afterwards known as the Southern 
Pacific, was in operation between New Orleans and the Pacific 
coast. Two years later the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe was 
completed, and one could travel by rail from Kansas City to Los 
Angeles. There were now four great iron highways extending 
across the continent like four mighty navigable rivers to bear the 
burdens of trade and travel. The part played by these roads in 
the development of the West will receive special attention in a 
subsequent chapter. 

The rapid development of the transportation system would hardly The 
have been possible had it not received the stimulus of two remark- Process; 

• T1 O • th(? Ail "" 

able inventions : the Bessemer process of making steel, and the air- brake 
brake. In 1858 Sir Henry Bessemer of England invented a process 
by which tons of molten iron could be run into a furnace and in a 
1 See p. 541. 



578 PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 

xxvn'i few minutes converted into a fine quality of steel. In 1866 Ameri- 

can manufacturers began to avail themselves of the Englishman's 

methods, with the result that the output of Bessemer steel grew 
from 3000 tons in 1867 to 1,000,000 tons in 1880, and passed the 
2,000,000 mark in 1886. Steel rails could now be used in railroad 
construction, and the boilers of locomotives could be made of steel. 
With a rail that could stand immense friction without serious 
injury and a boiler than could with safety carry steam at a very 
high pressure, it was possible to build locomotives that would draw 
larger trains and it was also possible to run the trains faster. 
But these heavy fast-running trains could not be stopped quickly 
by the old-time hand brake that was in use. With the old brake 
they would sometimes run as much as half a mile beyond a station 
before they could be brought to a standstill, and then when 
"backed" they would again pass beyond the station. The problem 
of stopping a train, therefore, became almost as important as the 
problem of starting it. The solution of the problem was found in 
1881 when George Westinghouse invented a powerful brake which 
was operated directly from the engine by means of compressed air. 
improved Many other new inventions were now beginning to work wonders 

implements in the industrial world. Of these not a few were of great benefit 
to the farmer. The gang-plow — a series of several plows joined 
together, mounted on wheels, and drawn by the power of steam — 
was taking the place of the plow that was drawn by horses and 
turned but a single furrow. The simple reaper of the early 
McCormick type x was replaced by the self-binder, whose steel 
fingers with almost human intelligence bound the sheaves as fast 
as they were cut. The self-binder was soon followed by the com- 
plete harvester, which cut the grain, threshed it, and put it into 
sacks. With the aid of these machines one agricultural laborer 
was as efficient in the production of grain as three or four had been 
before the inventions had been brought into use. 
The "Age of The electrical inventions of the time were so numerous and so 
startling in importance that the period may be regarded as the 
beginning of the "Age of Electricity." In 1880 Thomas A. Edison 
built a short railroad near his laboratory at Menlo Park, New 
Jersey, and demonstrated the practicability of using the electrical 
current as power for transportation. Three years later he ex- 
hibited an electric locomotive which ran around a circular track 
1 See p. 341. 



Electricity" 



INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS, 1877-85 579 

one third of a mile in length. About 1885 street-cars began to xxvni 

take their power from overhead wires charged with an electric 

current, and the day of the trolley-car was at hand. This was 
only one of the many new uses to which electricity was put. 
Charles F. Brush of Cleveland in 1879 invented an arc-light made 
by passing a powerful current of electricity between two carbon 
points. This gave as much light as a hundred gas jets. Although 
the arc-light rivaled the light of day and was excellent for lighting 
streets, its painful glare and its disagreeable sputtering rendered 
it unfit for use within doors. Edison determined that the world 
should have a light that could be used anywhere, indoors or out- 
doors. He found that the new light must be incandescent — that it 
would have to be emitted from a filament made by an electric 
current. Discovering that many different kinds of substances 
could be used for making filaments, he worked day and night for 
many months trying to find the substance that would give the best 
light and last the longest. One day in 1880, after experimenting 
with almost every possible material, he took a bamboo fan, tore it to 
pieces, and made filaments of it. To his delight he found that he 
now had the incandescent light he had been so long seeking. It 
was about this time, too, that this "Wizard of Menlo Park" in- 
vented a talking-machine called the phonograph. The first phono- 
graph was a crude thing, and it talked very poorly indeed. But 
Edison had faith in his machine and he made for it the following 
claims: "The phonograph will be largely devoted to music. It 
will preserve the sayings of those dear to us, and even receive the 
message of the dying. It will enable children to have dolls that 
will really speak, laugh and sing. It will preserve the voices of 
our great men, and enable future generations to listen to the 
speeches made by them." People could not believe that such things 
were possible, but we now know that Edison did not claim too 
much, for the highly perfected talking-machines which are found 
in millions of homes to-day are simply improved forms of the 
phonograph which the "wizard" invented in 1878. 

The most wonderful invention of this period, however, was an The 

• p i i Telephone 

instrument that would carry the human voice from place to place. 
Back in the fifties a Frenchman named Bourseul produced a device 
by which a disk vibrating under the influence of the spoken word 
would by means of an electric current produce similar vibrations 
of a disk located at a distance. In 1874 Professor Alexander 



580 



PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 



CKAP. 
XXVIII 



Immigra- 
tion 



Putting the 
Bars up 
Against 
the Immi- 
grant 



Graham Bell of Boston seized upon an idea similar to Bourseul's. 
Bell saw in the vibrating disk a resemblance to the drum of the 
human ear. In imagination he beheld "two iron disks or ear- 
drums, far apart and connected by an electrified wire, catching 
vibrations of sound at one end and reproducing them at the other. 
Accordingly he went to work to construct the apparatus which his 
mind had fashioned. After two years of hard labor he had a 
machine that would convey distinctly the sounds of the human 
voice over wires stretched between Boston and Salem; he had 
invented the telephone. At first the uncanny thing would operate 
only at short distances, but as improvements were made the dis- 
tance grew greater and greater until at last one could talk in Boston 
and be heard in San Francisco, or talk in New York and be heard 
in London. 

In recounting the factors that were contributing to the achieve- 
ments of this period, we must not forget immigration. Without 
the brawn and the brain of the immigrant the progress would not 
have been so swift, nor the prosperity so great. The times called 
for more work than could possibly have been performed by Ameri- 
can hands. Immigrants were needed, and they came in mighty 
streams. More than 4,000,000 of them came during the period 
1878-85, which is now being considered. As always, the Germans 
and the Irish were in the lead. In the five years 1881-85 immi- 
gration from Germany alone reached the astonishing figure of 
nearly 1,000,000. Scandinavians, too, were now coming in faster 
than ever before. The new-comers were for the most part able- 
bodied, intelligent toilers and they were readily absorbed by the 
industrial world. In seeking new homes they spread over almost 
the entire country. Only a small proportion of them, however, 
settled in the South. By far the greater number went West where 
land was cheap and where they could engage in the occupation of 
farming. 

Up to this time immigration had always been an easy, come-as- 
you-please matter : everybody was admitted ; no bars had been put 
up. In the eighties, however, Congress decided that there were 
certain classes of foreigners to whom the hand of welcome must not 
be extended. One of these classes consisted of Chinese laborers. 
In the late seventies on the Pacific coast Dennis Kearny had led a 
movement against the further admission of Chinese, and as a result 
of this agitation Congress in 1882 passed a Chinese Exclusion Act 



INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS, 1877-85 581 

which closed the doors to Chinese laborers for a period of ten xxvni 

years — a period which was renewed in 1892, and again in 1902. 

In 1882 also Congress put up the bars against paupers, criminals, 
convicts, and the insane, requiring them to be returned at the 
expense of the vessels in which they came. But the most important 
of these early laws restricting immigration was the Contract Labor 
Act of 1885, which provided that persons brought to the United 
States under a contract to perform labor here should be sent back 
at the expense of the vessel bringing them. Of this measure one of 
the members of Congress who voted for it said : "It undertakes 
to prohibit the efforts of corporations and of individuals, and of 
capitalists, to introduce the cheap and servile labor of foreign lands 
. . . because that labor, as we know, can be commanded at very 
greatly reduced wages as compared with what we pay to the 
working people of our own country." This restrictive law seems 
to have had some effect, for in the years immediately following its 
passage immigration perceptibly declined. 

While millions of foreigners went out on the farms, other The 

& . ' Growth 

millions who were artisans and skilled workmen took their places of cities 
in shops and factories. For America by this time, as was shown 
by the table of progress, 1 was becoming a great manufacturing and 
commercial nation. This meant of course that it was becoming a 
nation of cities. By 1890 we were no longer a distinctly rural 
people. Nearly 30 per cent of our entire population was urban. 
New York was among the very largest cities of the world. Chicago 
had outstripped all the cities of the West and contained more than 
a million souls. Philadelphia also had more than a million, but 
she had lost second place to Chicago. St. Louis, Boston, and Balti- 
more each had a population of nearly half a million. Nine other 
cities — Cleveland, Pittsburg, Detroit, Buffalo, San Francisco, Mil- 
waukee, Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Washington — had passed the 
two hundred thousand mark, while Newark and Minneapolis were 
rapidly approaching it. Cities grew wherever trade and manu- 
factures flourished, which was in nearly every region of the coun- 
try. In New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, 
where manufacturing was making the greatest progress, more than 
half the people lived in urban communities. 
1 See p. 576. 



582 



PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 



Schools and Books 



chap. 

XXVIII 



Public 
Schools in 
Every State 



The Land 
Grant Act 



The conditions of urban life and the highly complex industrial 
system that was being developed required millions of workmen who 
could read and write. Modern industry no less than democracy 
calls for a wide diffusion of knowledge among the people. It is no 
wonder, then, that popular education flourished during this period. 
The foundation of the public school system that was laid before the 
Civil War x was broadened and deepened after the war, and by 
1885 in nearly every State there had been established an elaborate 
system of common schools which furnished the rudiments of edu- 
cation free to all children. In the South there were schools for the 
blacks as well as the whites. The high school was now an estab- 
lished institution in all parts of the country, and the normal school 
was training thousands of teachers. The enrollment of pupils 
assumed an enormous total, increasing from 7,000,000 in 1870 to 
13,000,000 in 1890. Of course illiteracy was being reduced. Be- 
tween 1880 and 1890 the percentage of illiterates over ten years 
of age fell from 17 to 13.3. 

In the promotion of education the Federal Government was now 
doing its part. In 1862 Congress, ''recognizing the changes con- 
sequent upon the introduction of machinery and the advent of 
steam and electricity as elements of industrial progress, ' ' had passed 
the Land Grant Act providing for the sale of nearly ten million 
acres of public lands, the proceeds of which were to be devoted to 
the support in every State of higher institutions of learning, where 
technical and agricultural branches should be taught. This law 
was the mother of many agricultural colleges. State after State 
availed itself of the advantages arising under the Morrill Act — as 
the Land Grant Act was usually called, — with the result that by 
1885 there were scattered all over the country schools in which 
instruction was given in scientific farming and in the industrial 
arts. In a number of States the money received from the act was 
used for founding a university, the universities of California, 
Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, West Virginia, and Wyoming, 
as well as Cornell University, being among the institutions that in 
their early days were fostered by the Federal Government through 
the working of this beneficent statute. In 1867 Congress again 
showed its friendliness to the public schools by establishing the 

1 See p. 424. 



SCHOOLS AND BOOKS 583 

Federal bureau of education, which, under the direction of such ™^f I - I 

distinguished educators as Henry Barnard and William Torrey 

Harris, performed the useful service of collecting and dissemi- 
nating information upon almost every conceivable topic of educa- 
tional interest. 

It was not only the common schools that were flourishing at this Princely 
period. Public education was supplemented by lavish private tions 
endowments, and the gifts were dazzling in their munificence. 
One university received the enormous sum of $30,000,000 ; another, 
$12,000,000. The result of the princely benefactions was to give 
America great universities which in the completeness of their 
equipment were comparable to the historic universities of Europe. 
Smith, Wellesley, Johns Hopkins, Bryn Mawr, the Catholic Uni- 
versity, Leland Stanford, Jr., and the University of Chicago were 
all founded between 1872 and 1892. As the list indicates, colleges 
for women were multiplying. In 1865 Vassar, the first college in 
the history of the world designed to give women all the advantages 
of education hitherto enjoyed by men, opened its doors for the 
reception of students, and within twenty years there were in 
the United States more than two hundred institutions for 
the higher education of women with a student body of more than 
30,000. 

While facilities for education were increasing the character of Teaching 
the instruction was improving. It was in the eighties that the so- 
called "Quincy method" acquired vogue in public school circles. 
The old way of following text-books closely and learning by rote 
grew into discredit, and it became fashionable to teach by objects 
and concrete examples and by the actual application of principles. 
The higher institutions also were waking up. Under the leadership 
of Charles William Eliot, who for forty years was the president of 
Harvard, the rigid curriculum which had come down from the 
middle ages was discarded and in its place was adopted an elective 
system whereby the student was given large freedom in his choice 
of subjects to be studied. Under the leadership of Daniel Coit 
Gilman, the president of Johns Hopkins, universities began to 
emphasize the value of graduate work and to encourage advanced 
students to make original contributions to knowledge. 

The progress made in belles-lettres during this period fell short Progress in 
of the achievements in other directions. American literature after lettres 
the Civil War failed to maintain the high level which it had reached 



584 



PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 



CHAP. 
XXVIII 



The 

Nominees 
and the 
Platforms 
in 1884 



by I860. 1 Still, in the seventies and eighties many volumes of solid 
worth appeared. There were the stories of William Dean Howells, 
Bret Harte, F. Marion Crawford, Henry James, and George W. 
Cable ; there were the poems of Sidney Lanier, Eugene Field, 
Thomas Bailey Aldrich, James Whitcomb Riley, C. H. (Joaquin) 
Miller, and R. W. Gilder ; there were the volumes of inimitable 
humor of Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) and E. W. (Bill) 
Nye ; there were the scholarly histories of John Fiske, Henry 
Adams, and John Bach McMaster. Although these men may not 
have possessed genius of the highest kind, their books for the most 
part were more distinctly American than any that hitherto had been 
produced. 

The Democrats Return to Power 

Turning from matters economic and social and reverting to the 
political aspect of the period now under consideration, we find that 
the Arthur administration remained uneventful to the end. The 
Presidential election of 1884, however, was an event of the greatest 
importance. President Arthur greatly desired the honor of a 
nomination but he refused to make a personal effort to get it. He 
doubtless would have failed if he had made the effort, for he was 
not in favor with those who had control of the Republican machine. 
The tide was running strong for Blaine as the nominee, and when 
the Republican convention met in Chicago early in June it nomi- 
nated him on the fourth ballot. The Democrats, meeting in the 
same city a few weeks later, nominated Grover Cleveland of New 
York. In the platforms neither party came out for anything that 
resembled a well-defined issue. On the subject of the tariff there 
was gingerly treatment and dodging on both sides. The Republi- 
cans declared for a tariff, ''not for revenue only, but to afford 
security to our domestic interests and protection to the rights and 
wages of the laborers." The Democrats abandoned the demand 
made four years before for a tariff for revenue only and were 
content to advocate a schedule of customs duties that "would not 
injure any domestic industry but rather promote their healthy 
growth, without depriving American labor of the ability to compete 
successfully with foreign labor." All this meant hardly anything 
more than that the Republicans were in favor of a protective tariff 
and the Democrats were not opposed to one. 

1 See p. 425. 



THE DEMOCRATS RETURN TO POWER 585 

Several smaller parties came forward with candidates and plat- £hap. 



forms. These minor parties did not figure largely in the campaign 
and were sneeringly referred to as "junk," yet in this political Mino . r 
junk there was one party that advocated : (1) the right of Congress 
to regulate the currency issues; (2) the regulation of interstate 
railroads by Congress; (3) a graduated income tax; (4) the reduc- 
tion of the hours of labor; (5) the abolition of child labor; (6) 
woman suffrage. Thus stones that were rejected by the build- 
ers in 1884 before many years became the chief stones of the 
corner. 

Since, so far as the two great parties were concerned, there was a contrast 
no great principle at stake, the contest of necessity turned upon aiities Son 
the personalities of the candidates. How complete was the contrast 
presented by the two men! "In personality," says C. R. Lingley, 
"Blaine was magnetic, approachable, high-strung, possessed of a 
vivid imagination, and of a marvelous memory for facts, names, 
and faces. Over him men went 'insane in pairs,' either devotedly 
admiring, or completely distrusting, him. Cleveland was almost 
devoid of personal charm except to his most intimate associates. 
He was brusque and tactless, unimaginative, plodding, common- 
place in his tastes and in the elements of his character. Men threw 
their hats in the air and cheered themselves hoarse at the name of 
Blaine; to Cleveland's courage, earnestness, and honesty, they gave 
a tribute of admiration." 

Blaine's life had long been an open book, and the glare of 
publicity had revealed so many flaws in his public record that a 
large number of influential Republicans refused to support him. 
These bolters, who received the popular name of "Mugwumps," 
but who regarded themselves as reformers, organized and did all 
the harm they could to the Republican ticket. Blaine professed 
not to care for them. "They are noisy," he said, "but not numer- 
ous, pharisaical but not practical, ambitious but not wise, preten- 
tious but not powerful." Cleveland's life at the time of his 
nomination was not an open book, for his career had been rather 
obscure. He had been mayor of Buffalo and governor of New 
York and had filled both places with credit. But during the mud- 
slinging of the campaign every fault of his private life was dragged 
from its dread abode, with the result that the country was asked to 
believe that the Democratic candidate was a monster of immorality. 
When the rumors were run to their sources, it was found that, with 



586 PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 

chap the exception of a single episode, Cleveland's life had been one of 

singular rectitude. 

T1,e As the scurrilous and ill-mannered contest drew to a close it 

Democrats 

Triumphant seemed certain that the result would hinge upon the vote of New 
York. Here fortune seemed to have loaded her dice with the view 
of defeating Blaine. The State was the stronghold of the Mug- 
wumps, and their antagonism was violent. Furthermore, Conkling, 
still smarting with the old wound, 1 was feeding fat his ancient 
grudge by holding aloof and taking no part in the campaign. To 
cap the climax, disaster to Blaine was invited by the rash words of 
one of his own supporters. At the very end of the campaign the 
Rev. Samuel Burchard, addressing a meeting of clergymen in New 
York, said: "We are Republicans and don't propose to leave our 
party and identify ourselves with the party whose antecedents 
have been rum, Romanism, and rebellion." Blaine was present at 
the meeting and failed to rebuke the indiscreet remark. The 
Democrats saw their opportunity, and in less than twenty-four 
hours the Burchard alliteration was spread all over the country. 
Every Catholic voter in the State of New York was told that Blaine 
had allowed a slur upon the church to pass unrebuked. Frantic 
efforts were made by the Republicans to repair the damage inflicted 
by the tongue of the indiscreet parson, but all to no purpose; 
election day was too near at hand. The popular vote in New York 
gave Cleveland 563,144 and Blaine 562,005. The thirty-six votes 
of the Empire State had been won by the Democrats, and the elec- 
toral vote stood 219 for Cleveland and 182 for Blaine. Thus 
through the loss of a single State by the narrow margin of about 
1000 votes the Republican power was broken and the Democratic 
party for the first time since 1856 found itself triumphant in a 
national election. 

The This triumph was of the utmost significance to the nation. By 

Significance 

of the electing Cleveland the voters of the country not only put an end, 

temporarily at least, to the domination of the great party that 
seemed to be well-nigh invincible, but they bestowed power upon a 
party that had its greatest strength in the South and that was 
largely under the control of Southern influences. The election, 
therefore, was an expression of confidence in the South. No longer 
were Northern men afraid to have Southern men as leaders in the 
councils of the Government. No longer were the people afraid 
'See p. 56:?. 



CHRONOLOGY 587 

that secession would again show its head, that the South was xxvui 
scheming to ride rough-shod over the North, or that the ascendancy 
of any one party was necessary for the safety and salvation of the 
country. The election of Cleveland therefore had the effect of 
drawing the North and South together and bringing the two sec- 
tions to deal with each other in a spirit of friendship and mutual 
good-will. The history of our country since 1885 is the history of a 
united people. 

NOTES AND CHRONOLOGY 

[This matter is indexed. It does not include dates given or subjects treated 
in the main body of the text.] 

1876 Queen Victoria proclaimed empress of India. 

1877 General Grant starts on his tour around the world. 

1878 Senate ratifies the Samoa treaty, which gives United States naval vessels 

use of harbor at Pago-Pago. 
Greenback party unites with Labor Reform party, forming Greenback- 
Labor party. 

1879 Exodus to Kansas of a large number of negroes from the "black belt" 

of the South. 
Cable communication established between United States and France. 
Ute Indians are subdued. 

1880 Kansas adopts prohibitory amendment. 

1881 International Cotton Exposition opened at Atlanta. 

1882 J. F. Slater gives $1,000,000 for education of colored people of the South. 
Edmunds Law against polygamy in Utah is passed. 

Allegations of fraud in the conduct of the rail service on ten star 
routes lead to an investigation and a trial in the courts. 

1883 Letter postage reduced from three cents to two cents. 

Civil Rights Act of 1875 giving colored people equal privileges in hotels, 
theaters, etc., with white people is declared unconstitutional by the 
Supreme Court. 

1884 Brooklyn suspension bridge is opened to the public. 

People's (Labor and Greenback) party nominates B. F. Butler for the 

Presidency. 
Prohibition Party nominates J. P. St. John for the Presidency. 
Cotton Exposition at New Orleans is opened. 
United States bureau of labor is created. 

1885 Washington Monument (555 feet high) is dedicated at Washington. 

Suggested Readings 

President Hayes and the South : Sparks, pp. 84-102. 

Administration of Hayes : Lingley, pp. 103-122. 

A Republican revival : Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 394-418. 

An interlude : Haworth, pp. 125-145. 

The Blaine-Cleveland campaign : Sparks, pp. 305-340. 

The growth of manufacturing industries : Lippincott, pp. 441-468. 

Latter-day writers, 1866-1904 : Trent, pp. 220-250. 

Economic consequences of immigration : Ross, pp. 195-227. 



XXIX 

THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ORDER 

THE forces that were ruling America at the time the Democrats 
were restored to power were industrial rather than political. 
Men's thoughts were centered upon the changes that were taking 
place in the business world and in the world of labor; for these 
changes were the overshadowing fact of the period. Between the 
inauguration of Cleveland and the opening of the twentieth cen- 
tury "captains of industry" were bringing about a concentration 
of wealth unparalleled in history, and "captains of labor" were 
organizing working-men's unions on a scale of startling magnitude. 
The changes were so profound and were so radically different from 
anything that had existed before that it may be truly said they 
marked the beginning of a new industrial order. 

Cleveland at the Helm 

Cleveland's At the time President Cleveland entered upon his duties there 
Address 11 were many who felt that his abilities were small and that he was 
incapable of a high order of statesmanship. The country was not 
long in finding out that there need be no misgivings of this kind. 
In his inaugural address the new President acquitted himself in a 
manner that surprised his critics. Few things in the whole litera- 
ture of democracy are finer than the following passage : 

But he who takes the oath to-day to preserve, protect, and de- 
fend the Constitution of the United States only assumes the solemn 
obligation which every patriotic citizen — on the farm, in the work- 
shop, in the marts of trade, and everywhere — should share with 
him. The Constitution which prescribes his oath, my countrymen, 
is yours; the Government you have chosen him to administer for 
a time is yours; the suffrage which executes the will of freemen 
is yours ; the laws and the entire scheme of our civil rule, from the 
town-meeting to the State capitals and the national capital, are 
yours. Your every voter, as surely as your chief magistrate, under 
the same high sanction, though in a different sphere, exercises a 

588 



CLEVELAND AT THE HELM 589 

public trust. Nor is this all. Every citizen owes to the country chap- 
a vigilant watch and close scrutiny of its public servants and a XXIX 
fair and reasonable estimate of their fidelity and usefulness. Thus 
is the people's will impressed upon the whole framework of our 
civil polity — municipal, State, and Federal; and this is the price 
of our liberty and the inspiration of our faith in the republic. 

In the interest of union and harmonv the President determined AnAble , 

Group of 

that the South should be represented in his cabinet. As members Adminis- 
trators 

of his official family he selected Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware as 
secretary of state ; Daniel Manning of New York as secretary of 
the treasury ; William C. Whitney of New York as secretary of the 
navy; William C. Endicott of Massachusetts as secretary of war; 
William F. Vilas of Wisconsin as postmaster-general; A. H. Gar- 
land of Arkansas as attorney-general ; and L. Q. C. Lamar of 
Mississippi as secretary of the interior. Bayard was a border State 
man upon whose friendship the South could rely ; Lamar had been 
a leader in the secession movement of 1861 ; Garland had opposed 
secession, although when his State Avent out he went with it. 
With the exception of the secretary of state, who was a leader of 
commanding talents, the men of the cabinet for the most part were 
without experience in national affairs, and several of them were 
almost unknown. All of them, however, proved to be men of 
resourceful ability, and, taken as a body, they showed themselves 
to be a rather remarkable group of administrators. 

When it came to the appointment of the minor officers President a Friend 
Cleveland soon found himself in hot water. At the time of his service 
inauguration there were in the Federal civil establishment several 
thousand ' ' Presidential offices ' ' — offices filled by the direct appoint- 
ment of the President — and more than 100,000 positions of lower 
rank. All — or nearly all — of these places were occupied by Re- 
publicans. To secure these offices Democratic party workers 
swarmed like locusts in the streets of Washington, as politicians 
since the days of Jackson had always swarmed there upon the 
incoming of a new administration. That the Democrats in 1885 
should be importunate in their demands was a thing to be expected, 
for they had been out in the cold for more than a quarter of a 
century. They clamored for a "clean sweep." But the President 
was in no position to make wholesale removals, for he was commit- 
ted to the principle of civil service reform. In his letter accepting 



Reform 



590 THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ORDER 



CHAP. 
XXIX 



The Two 
Parties 
Pulling 
Against 
Each Other 



his nomination he had said: "The selection and retention of 
subordinates in government employment should depend upon their 
ascertained fitness and the value of their work." This was as much 
as to promise that he would uphold the Civil Service Law. Indeed 
he had told the Independents in December, 1884, that he regarded 
himself pledged to this law, because his conception of true public 
duty was that every statute upon the books should be enforced in 
good faith. In his inaugural address he had said: "Merit and 
competency shall be recognized instead of party subserviency." 
When the time came for him to act the country soon learned that 
he meant what he said. To the dismay and disgust of the poli- 
ticians he took seriously the pledges he had made and tried in 
earnest to advance the cause of reform. Gradually he extended the 
operation of the Civil Service Law, and he demanded of appointees 
a reasonable standard of character and efficiency. There were in 
office many "offensive partisans and unscrupulous manipulators of 
local party management." These Cleveland regarded as having 
forfeited all just claims to retention, and they were speedily re- 
moved. The result of his policy was that he pleased nobody. 
"Democratic spoilsmen charged him with disloyalty; Republicans 
accused him of hypocrisy ; while Independents, now encouraged by 
his steadfastness, now angered by his shortcomings, were soon lost 
in bewilderment and furnished keen sport for the taunts of ardent 
partisans." But this denunciation and carping may now be for- 
gotten and the course of the President commended ; for he did 
much for the merit system and was friendly to it at the very time it 
sorely needed a friend. 

During the entire period of the first Cleveland administration 
the Senate was Republican. For the President to be of one party 
and one of the branches of Congress to be of another was now 
becoming a chronic condition in the make-up of the Federal Govern- 
ment. For nearly twenty years after the "tidal wave of 1874" 
only in two brief periods of two years each (1889-91 and 1893-95) 
were Congress and the executive united by the same party ties. 
During these momentous years, therefore, the two parties were 
nearly all the time pulling against each other. At a time when all 
the energy of government ought to have been directed solely to the 
furtherance of the national weal, leaders were playing small politics 
and manomvering for party advantage. The result, of course, was 
a shameful neglect of public interests. 



CLEVELAND AT THE HELM 591 

With the administration and the Senate at cross-purposes, there chap. 
could be no important constructive legislation concerning' which — — 
there might be a sharp difference of opinion. Nevertheless, Cleve- Two Non- 
land's first term was not utterly barren of useful laws; several Laws 
measures of a non-partisan character were enacted. One of these 
was an act regulating the succession to the Presidency. The neces- 
sity for action on this subject became apparent upon the death of 
Vice-President Hendricks on November 25, 1885. As the law 
stood, had Cleveland died between the date of the Vice-President's 
death and the meeting of Congress there would have been no one 
to take his place. To meet any future contingency of this kind the 
Presidential Succession Act was passed in 1886. This law provides 
that if for any reason neither the President nor the Vice-President 
can discharge the duties of the Presidential office, members of the 
President 's cabinet shall succeed to the Presidency in the following 
order: (1) the secretary of state; (2) the secretary of the treasury; 
(3) the secretary of war; (4) the attorney-general; (5) the post- 
master-general; (6) the secretary of the navy; (7) the secretary of 
the interior. The officer succeeding to the Presidency serves during 
the remainder of the four years. With this statute on the books it 
was no longer probable that any emergency would ever arise which 
would leave the country without a President for a single day. 
Another law having to do with the Presidential office was the Elec- 
toral Count Act, passed in 1887 with the purpose of avoiding 
trouble such as arose in 1876 in connection with the counting of the 
electoral vote. The act provided that in the future each State 
should determine for itself the manner in which its electoral vote 
should be counted, and that when a State issues a certificate an- 
nouncing the result of the vote cast by its Presidential electors such 
certificate shall be accepted by Congress as the true and final result 
of the election in that State. 

The administration and Congress could also agree upon plans a stronger 
for strengthening the national defense. After the Civil War, as 
after previous wars, the subject of preparedness was one to which 
neither the people nor their leaders gave any considerable atten- 
tion. The army was reduced to a smaller and smaller size until by 
Cleveland's time it had dwindled to fewer than 25,000 enlisted 
men. The navy, too, was neglected. Few new ships were built, 
and many of the old ones that had been built for action in the Civil 
War were allowed to fall to pieces. During the administration of 



592 THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ORDER 

chap. Arthur, however, Congress did something for the rehabilitation of 

the navy, but not very much. In 1886 Secretary Whitney in his 

report stated that although $75,000,000 had been spent on the navy 
between 1868 and 1886 the money had been virtually thrown away. 
"It is questionable," he said, "whether we have a single naval 
vessel finished and afloat at the present time that could encounter 
the ships of any important power — a single vessel that has either 
the necessary armor for protection, speed for escape, or weapons 
for defense." A bill providing for an increase of the navy passed 
both houses in 1886 and was signed by the President. This bill, 
historic in the annals of our navy, provided for the building of a 
battle-ship, the Texas; an armored cruiser, the Maine, and a pro- 
tected cruiser, the Baltimore. From this time the development of 
the navy became a fixed policy of the Government, and by 1893 the 
United States as a naval power had advanced from twelfth to fifth 
place. 

Consolidation and Concentration 

Before going further with the narrative of particular events, it 
will be best to take a survey of the general economic situation that 
existed about the middle of the eighties. Let us, then, draw near 
and view closely the conditions which prevailed in the world of 
American business in the days of Cleveland's first administration. 
P 1 ? . . , The outstanding economic fact in the eighties was the tre- 

Industnal ° ° 

corporation mendous advance that was being made by the industrial corpora- 
tions. Before the Civil War ordinary business was almost uni- 
versally carried on either by partnerships or individuals. Under 
the workings of the factory system some very large industrial 
establishments had made their appearance; but for the most part 
these were owned and managed either by one person or by a small 
group of persons who had combined their capital and formed a 
partnership. In the building of railroads, however, the corporation 
had generally been brought into use. This was because any large 
railroad undertaking required a capital investment of many mil- 
lions of dollars, and there was no single person or small group of 
persons who had a sufficient amount of money to finance the enter- 
prise. In 1860 there was hardly a score of millionaires in the whole 
country. 
corpora- Although men in the industrial field had as yet made but little 

Pra?sed ere practical use of the corporation, they had nevertheless learned a 



CONSOLIDATION AND CONCENTRATION 593 

great deal about its efficiency in business organization. They saw chap. 

that the thing called the corporation was endowed with immortal- 

ity ; that it was a group of natural persons authorized to act as one 
artificial person and that this artificial person could do many things 
that a natural person could not do and do them on a vastly larger 
scale; that it was an agency by which the free capital of a com- 
munity could be readily and quickly massed and applied to a par- 
ticular enterprise; that it protected the investors from any loss 
that might overwhelm their whole estate. They saw good in the 
corporation and they charged it with no evil. Rather, they enter- 
tained an affectionate regard for it. To the mind of a writer in 
"Hunt's Magazine" a corporation before the Civil War was the 
"rose of wealth without its supposed thorn; it was an artificial 
pecuniary giant without the danger of the natural giant." "Cor- 
porations," says this writer, "transfer social progress from the 
rich, who are always comparatively few in number, to the rela- 
tively poor, who are numerous. Nor is this all. Their timidity and 
lack of enterprise are naturally great in proportion to the largeness 
of their property; hence corporations, in transferring social prog- 
ress from the rich, transfer it from the timid to the bold, as well 
as from the few to the many. ' ' 

The day was not far distant when a different tune was sung. TheCor- 
During the Civil War when conditions required that goods be pro- Denounced 
duced on the largest possible scale and with the greatest possible 
efficiency, and when it was necessary to raise large amounts of 
capital in the easiest way, manufacturing establishments in great 
numbers were organized as corporations. By the time the war was 
over a high official of the Government called attention to the fact 
that a rapid concentration of the manufacturing business with vast 
establishments was resulting in the annihilation of thousands of 
smaller concerns. In the years immediately following the war 
concentration went on faster than ever and corporations were 
formed in greater numbers than ever. And as they multiplied 
they fell into popular disrepute. "Corporations," said Whitelaw 
Reid in 1872, "have spread over the land with a growth like that 
of Jonah 's gourd, but with a texture that no hot suns yet seen can 
wither. To them you largely owe the ruin of legislative virtue, 
and the dangerous tempting of judicial honor. Creatures of the 
State, they control and command the legislation of the State, the 
interpretation of the laws, and the election of its law-makers. 



594 THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ORDER 



CHAP. 
XXIX 



"Concen- 
tration Was 
in Things" 



The 

Corporation 
as a Legal 
Person 



Servants of the people, they are making themselves the masters — 
are threatening indeed, under the form of republicanism, to subvert 
entirely the government of the people for the people." 

When these words of gloom were spoken the corporation move- 
ment was really only in its infancy; in the years just ahead cor- 
porations multiplied with marvelous fecundity. They were bound 
to multiply because consolidation was now the order of the day; 
concentration was in things. The development and prosperity of 
the country depended upon the operation of centralizing influences. 
The accumulating demands of a large and rapidly increasing popu- 
lation spreading itself over an ever-expanding area could be met 
only by the unity of effort and the efficiency that go with corporate 
management. Furthermore, the economic doctrine of laisser-faire, 
dominant at this time in commercial circles, was entirely favorable 
to combination. According to this doctrine, business is purely and 
wholly a private affair; the individual must be allowed to enter 
into whatever occupation he wishes, and buy and sell in a manner 
best suited to his interests, and there must be no regulation or 
interference by government. Laisser-faire, always a blessed philos- 
ophy to men with strong acquisitive instincts, was thrice blessed to 
fortune-hunters bent on amassing great wealth in a country where 
natural resources of incalculable value were still untouched, where 
land and forest and stream and mine were waiting for the exploiter. 
The splendid facilities for carrying on commercial transactions 
must also be counted as one of the factors that were making for big 
things. The express-train carried the business man from place to 
place with lightning speed and increased enormously his power to 
bargain, to plan, to superintend, to strike out in new fields. The 
telephone and telegraph kept him in touch with all parts of the 
country and enabled him to transact as much business between 
breakfast and lunch as in the old time could be transacted in a 
month. By making good use of these and other agencies of science 
and invention a man of adventurous spirit with brains and a talent 
for organization could increase his business efficiency a hundred- 
fold and, in exceptional cases, gain for himself a place among those 
economic giants known as "captains of industry." 

The corporation, therefore, was simply one of a number of forces 
that were operating to produce concentration in commerce and 
industry. It was popular in business circles because of its effi- 
ciency. In the eighties it took on new vitality when the Supreme 



CONSOLIDATION AND CONCENTRATION 595 

Court of the United States squarely and positively decided in 1889 xxfx" 

that a corporation was a person within the meaning of both the 

''due process" clause and the "equal protection" clause of the 
Fourteenth Amendment. The court had in 1873 held that the T^htSke 
purpose of this amendment was for the protection of the negro and 
had said : ' ' We doubt very much whether any action of a State not 
directed by way of discrimination against the negroes as a class, or 
on account of their race, will ever be held to come within the pur- 
view of this provision." But this was not the thing that came to 
pass. As time advanced litigation under the amendment involving 
the negro diminished almost to the vanishing-point, while nearly 
all the important cases were in some way concerned with corpora- 
tions. In about four cases out of five the corporations won. More- 
over, the judgments of the court have had the result of sheltering 
corporations within a region of jurisprudence where it cannot be 
effectually reached by either Federal or State authority. How the 
intervention of the court has operated to produce this amazing 
effect is explained by Charles Wallace Collins as follows: "The 
Fourteenth Amendment in its practical operation gives to the 
Federal Government no power of control. Congress is powerless 
under it to make any laws by way of regulating the internal affairs 
of the States. It does, however, give the Federal Government 
through the Supreme Court almost unlimited power of interven- 
tion. . . . This intervention under the amendment has a very 
remarkable effect. The State is directed or restrained along a 
certain line of activity. The Federal Government is powerless to 
go any further. Having restrained the State from acting, its 
authority ceases absolutely. Within the particular sphere in con- 
troversy the State is also rendered powerless. Thus there is created 
a field in which business operations may be carried on over which 
neither the Federal Government nor the State can take any effec- 
tive action. This has been fittingly called the Twilight Zone. 
Intervention under the amendment has this inevitable result. 
Beyond the pale of the law there is seen a shadowy realm in which 
the power of wealth may move to and fro unhampered by the will 
of the people." x 

*By way of illustration Mr. Collins cites the case of Smythe v. Ames (1G9 
U. S., 466) : "Here the Supreme Court resti-ained, by virtue of the Fourteenth 
Amendment, the enforcement of the Nebraska freight rate law. on the ground 
that the rates were too low and discriminating. Since this did not involve the 
question of interstate commerce, the Federal Government was powerless to come 



596 THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ORDER 

chap. it was a great day for the corporation when it was declared to be 

a legal person, for it could now go ahead with its plans possessed 

TheCorpo- of all the privileges that go with laisser-faire and protected by the 

ration and ... . 

Competition law, even as a natural living man is protected. This meant that in 
the field of competition its blows would be deadlier than ever. It 
was already in that field cutting and slashing at such a furious 
rate that it was changing the face of the industrial world. It was 
threatening to destroy the very principle of competition. Before 
the Civil War men were accustomed to say that competition was 
the life of trade, and as a general rule this was true. In those days 
men were not afraid to go into the market and fight. Any concern 
that managed its affairs wisely and produced goods that were in 
demand could hope for success, since in the struggle for business it 
stood on an equal footing with its competitors. But in the eighties 
small establishments were finding that competition was the death 
of trade. The corporation was manufacturing on a tremendously 
large scale; it was making use of the best mechanical devices; it 
was establishing factories at strategic points with the view of 
economy in distribution ; it was using by-products to good advan- 
tage ; it was maintaining within the factory an organization that 
got from the men the greatest possible amount of effective labor; it 
saved large sums in office expenses and in the expenses of salesman- 
ship. With this array of advantages on the side of the large 
establishment it could manufacture goods in immense quantities, 
sell them at a very small profit, and still make fabulous sums of 
money. If the small producer attempted to meet the prices of his 
great rival he ran a good chance of being ruined. 

a Few a few figures will show the changes that were taking place at 

Figures ° ° ° r 

this time in the business world — changes due largely to corporate 
influences. In 1870 the number of iron- and steel-mills in the 
United States was 808, the average capital invested by each mill 
being about $150,000. In 1890 the number of iron-mills was 719, 
the average capital invested by each mill being $575,000. In 1880 
the number of establishments engaged in making reapers, plows, 

in and fix the proper rate or to advise the people as to what would be a reason- 
able rate. Granting that the existing rates were too high, allowed the railroads 
too much profits, and consequently worked to the detriment of the welfare of 
the State, there was left no remedy to the people who were thus directly 
affected. The Federal Government was helpless. The hands of the State were 
tied. The freight trains moved on in the Twilight Zone." See "The Four- 
teenth Amendment and the States" ; p. 132. 



CONSOLIDATION AND CONCENTRATION 597 

and other agricultural implements was 1943, the average capital chap. 

of each establishment being about $32,000. Ten years later the 

number of concerns making agricultural implements was 910, the 
average capital of each concern being about $168,000. Take the 
leather industry : here the number of establishments fell from 7569 
in 1870 to 1787 in 1890, while the average capital of each estab- 
lishment rose from about $8000 in 1870 to about $55,000 in 1890. 
Thus it was all along the line : establishments were growing larger 
and larger and the number of establishments was growing smaller 
and smaller. This meant, of course, that the small company was 
either being absorbed by the larger or was being driven to the wall. 

Consolidation did not end with the driving out of the small Jj£S?f 
concern ; for competition was not yet at an end. Before the eighties theTrust 
had passed the big corporations that bad just come into being were 
competing with each other. Now it was diamond cut diamond. 
Indeed the struggle was so fierce and costly, so destructive of 
profits, that the big companies began to look about for a method of 
avoiding competition with each other. The remedy of course could 
be found only in further combination. When combination is pos- 
sible, competition is impossible. The movement for the consolida- 
tion of the big corporations began about 1880. At first an effort 
was made to stifle competition by means of the pool. Several cor- 
porations engaged in the same business, placing the marketing of 
their products under a central management, would agree upon a 
uniform scale of prices and upon the amount of goods that each 
separate corporation was to produce and sell. Under this arrange- 
ment there was no bidding for trade, no higgling about prices ; the 
buyer if he bought from a company belonging to the pool would 
have to pay the price fixed by the pool. The aim of the pool, 
therefore, was the complete strangulation of competition and the 
establishment of monopoly. But, with the exception of the exclu- 
sive rights granted by Congress to authors and inventors, monopoly 
has no place in American law. Accordingly, the pool was in 1882 
declared illegal and combinations of this kind were dissolved. Next 
the trust agreement was tried; the combining companies deposited 
their stocks with a central board of trustees and received in 
exchange trust certificates. The trustees managed the business of 
the uniting companies, fixing the prices and controlling the output 
of each constituent corporation. Since the trust agreement was 
little else than a ruse — a pool in disguise — it too was declared to be 



598 THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ORDER 

^"ap. a monopoly and was driven from the industrial field as an outlaw. 

But the corporations were not to be thwarted. Their next move 

was to form a trust. And what is a trust? It is simply a giant 
corporation consisting of a number of corporations where separate 
interests are merged and blended into one concern. But a company 
can hardly be called a trust unless it is big enough and powerful 
enough to control, or to go far toward controlling, the prices of the 
goods it manufactures. J. A. Hobson, an economist, defines trusts 
as being a "class of syndicates which have established a partial or 
total monopoly in certain productive industries by securing the 
ownership of a sufficient proportion of the interests of production 
to enable them to control prices. ' ' 

Trast P ' cal ^ ne evolution of the trust is fitly typified by the story of the 

Standard Oil Co., the pioneer in the trust movement. In 1862 a 
partnership for the refining of petroleum was formed between 
John D. Rockefeller, his brother William Rockefeller, and an 
English mechanic named Samuel Andrews. By 1870 this partner- 
ship had grown into a corporation known as the Standard Oil Co. 
Within five years the newly organized concern had absorbed about 
all the refineries in the United States except those in western 
Pennsylvania, where the oil business had its origin. By 1879 
virtually every one of the Pennsylvania refineries also had passed 
under the control of the Standard Oil Co. and it was the master of 
95 per cent of all the oil refining plants in the United States. 
How was this startling result achieved ? In large measure through 
business efficiency, foresight, and better methods of refining. But 
its success was not altogether due to merit. Its warfare upon com- 
petitors was savage and ruthless, and some of its practices were 
grossly unethical and unfair. Business men in those days were no 
better than their political contemporaries. Just about the time 
Tweed had reached the end of his tether, the South Improvement 
Co. was formed. This was a concern secretly organized in 1872 
by the two Rockefellers and eleven other persons for the purpose 
of securing advantageous arrangements with the railroads for oil 
shipments. The company persuaded the railroads to enter into a 
contract to carry oil at about half the price paid by other shippers. 
Another portion of the contract provided that the roads, besides 
giving rebates to the Improvement company on all oil shipped by 
its competitors, should furnish it every day with full way-bills of 
all such shipments. That is, the roads agreed to let it know exactly 



CONSOLIDATION AND CONCENTRATION 599 

the amount of business its competitors were doing and with whom xxfx' 

the business was being done ! This contract was signed by Jay 

Gould, Thomas A. Scott, and William H. Vanderbilt. But the 
conspiracy fell through. The public caught wind of the iniquitous 
scheme and in double-quick time the charter of the South Improve- 
ment Co. was annulled by the action of the Pennsylvania legis- 
lature. The company did not live to do a dollar 's worth of business, 
yet it existed long enough to damage the reputation of the men 
connected with it. 

With the giant corporation came the colossal private fortune, p^f^ 1 
Never before did money flow so fast into the pockets of the few. At Fortunes 
first the railroads were the Pactolian stream. The railroad mag- 
nate, Cornelius Vanderbilt, who just before the Civil War was 
worth about $1,500,000, died in 1877 leaving a fortune of more 
than $100,000,000, nearly all of which was acquired by shrewd 
manipulation of railroad properties. Another rail magnate, Jay 
Gould, who just before the Civil War was worth virtually nothing 
at all, by the middle of the eighties had by means of railroad 
transactions accumulated something like $80,000,000. By this time 
the industrial barons — the "captains of industry" — were coming 
into their own and were lining their pockets as fast as the railroad 
men were lining theirs. The head of the Standard Oil Trust, 
John D. Rockefeller, who began life in the fifties as a clerk, in the 
eighties was counting his wealth by the tens of millions and was 
presently to be counting it by the hundreds of millions. Andrew 
Carnegie, who in his early youth worked in a factory as a bobbin- 
boy for twenty cents a day, was now building up a steel business 
that was making him one of the richest men in the world. 

It was not only in financial circles that consolidation was taking ^^ 
place. While captains of industry were marshaling the mighty 
forces of capital, captains of labor were building up powerful com- 
binations of working-men. There were reasons enough why labor 
in the eighties should be active in the concentration of its forces. 
The increasing urban population x lent itself easily and naturally 
to the organization of larger bodies of working-men. In the manu- 
facturing industries alone there were several millions of handi- 
craftsmen. Vast numbers of these joined the union, because they 
felt that with organization back of them they would have a better 
chance of securing legislation favorable to their class. But the 

1 See p. 581. 



600 THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ORDER 



CHAP 
XXIX 



of Labor 



thing that operated most powerfully to bring working-men together 
was the necessity of matching the combinations of their employers 
with combinations of their own; they could not hope to stand up 
against the corporations unless they availed themselves of the 
strength that goes with union. 
Kn^hts The organization that held the center of the stage was the 

Knights of Labor. This was an association that in its composition 
and constitution differed widely from anything that had gone 
before. It was not a trades-union of the usual kind, but a grand 
consolidated union of all trades and grades of workers. Its ambi- 
tion was to be the "one big union." Its initiation fee was fifty 
cents, and any person more than eighteen years of age working 
for wages, or who at any time worked for wages, could become a 
member. No person who either sold or made his living by selling 
intoxicating liquors could join. Lawyers and bankers also were 
refused membership. The motto of the Knights was: "An injury 
to one is the concern of all." Their aim was to "secure to the 
workers of society the fullest enjoyment of the wealth they create ; 
leisure for the development of their intellectual, moral, and social 
faculties, and all the benefits, recreations, and pleasure of associa- 
tion — in a word, they declare themselves ready to join in any move- 
ment which will enable them to share in the gains and honor of 
advancing civilization." To accomplish these ends they advo- 
cated among other things the referendum in making laws; the 
creation of governmental bureaus for collecting labor statistics; 
compensation for injuries received through lack of proper safe- 
guards; compulsory school attendance for children between the 
ages of seven and fifteen ; a graduated tax on incomes and inherit- 
ances; the establishment of postal savings-banks; the gradual 
introduction of the eight-hour day; the government ownership of 
railroads, telegraphs, and telephones. The leaders who formulated 
these demands were denounced for their radicalism yet some of 
them lived to see the day when virtually all their aims had been 
actually achieved. The Knights were organized in 1869, but the 
real growth of the order began after the labor troubles of 1877. 1 
By 1882 the membership of the organization numbered 140,000. 
Four years later it reached the high-water mark of 700,000. The 
Knights were now under the leadership of Terence V. Powderly, 

1 See p. 545. 



CONSOLIDATION AND CONCENTRATION 601 

the most prominent of the captains of labor who were now coming chap . 

out to give battle to the captains of industry. 

Powderly and his subordinates exerted an influence among work- 
ers that startled the American public. Said a writer in the New 
York "Sun": 

Five men in this country control the chief interests of five hun- 
dred thousand workingmen, and can at any moment take the means 
of livelihood from two and a half millions of souls. These men 
compose the executive board of the noble order of the Knights of 
Labor of America. The ability of the president and cabinet to 
turn out all the men in the civil service, and to shift from one post 
to another the duties of the men in the army and navy, is a petty 
authority compared with that of these five Knights. . . . 

They can stay the nimble touch of almost every telegraph opera- 
tor; can shut up most of the mills and factories, and can disable 
the railroads. They can issue an edict against any manufactured 
goods so as to make their subjects cease buying them, and the 
tradesmen stop selling them. 

They can array labor against capital, putting labor on the offen- 
sive or the defensive, for quiet and stubborn self -protection, or for 
angry, organised assault, as they will. 

Although this was a highly exaggerated notion of the power actually 
wielded by the Knights, it illustrates very well the effect which 
their organization was having upon the popular mind. 

After 1886 the Knights began to decline both in power and ' rhe . 

° American 

number. This was in part because they became engaged, as we Federation 

1 ^ D D ' of Labor 

shall presently learn, in extensive strikes, the failure of which 
caused them to lose prestige, and in part because their peculiar 
organization brought them into conflict with the regular trade- 
unions, and thus caused a perilous impairment of harmony and 
unity within their membership. But that which hastened their 
decadence most was the rise of a new body organized on a different 
principle : this was the American Federation of Labor. This 
organization was founded in 1881, but did not assume its present 
name until 1886. In its structure and in its policy it was the anti- 
thesis of the Knights of Labor. The Federation of Labor, as is 
indicated by its name, was organized with the purpose of uniting 
trade-unions into a federated body. Its constituent unit is the 
local trade-union of a given town or city. In its broad outlines the 
government of the Federation bears a strong resemblance to the 



602 THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ORDER 

xxlx' United States Federal Government. Each trade-union joining the 
■ Federation of Labor is allowed to govern itself in respect to the 
matters which pertain to its own trade, and to govern itself through 
its own officers. The difference between the Knights of Labor and 
the Federation of Labor is stated by Samuel Gompers, for forty 
years the president of the Federation, as follows: "The Knights 
admitted any one to membership . . . ; the Federation confines 
membership to workingmen, not admitting even farmers who are 
employers of labor on their farms. .The Knights were a centralized 
society based on lodges established by the central union; the Fed- 
eration is based on its unions' individuality. But chief of all, the 
Knights assumed that organization of all classes of workers in one 
union in each locality would bring about the best results, while the 
Federation realized that the organization of each trade in its par- 
ticular union and the affiliation of all unions in a comprehensive 
federation was sure to strengthen each and bring advantage to all." 
The objects of the Federation are: to secure legislation in the 
interest of the working masses; to encourage the sale of union- 
labeled goods ; to influence public opinion by peaceful and legal 
methods in favor of organized labor ; and to aid and encourage the 
labor press of America. The Federation seemed to meet the needs 
of the working-men. "It gave free play to an enlightened self 
interest in the individual trades, while supplying a ready instru- 
ment for the accomplishment of those aims which can safely be 
prosecuted in common." The growth of the Federation at first 
was slow, but its numbers kept on increasing until at last its mem- 
bers were counted by the million. In 1922 it was claiming a mem- 
bership of more than 5,000,000. 

The First Thus the middle of the eighties saw the beginning of a new in- 

Fruits of ° . . 

Concentra- dustrial system. In commerce and industry consolidation was 
becoming the order of the day and things were moving straight 
toward monopoly. In labor circles, too, the trend was toward con- 
centration on a scale never before thought of. But the first-fruits 
of these centralizing tendencies could not be viewed with complete 
satisfaction. President Cleveland in a message to Congress in 
1888 said : ' ' Our cities are the abiding places of wealth and 
luxury ; our manufactures yield fortunes never dreamed of by the 
fathers of the Republic; our business men are madly striving in 
the race for riches, and immense aggregations of capital outrun 
the imagination in the magnitude of their undertakings. . . . We 



THE REGULATION OF THE RAILROADS 603 

find the wealth and luxury of our cities mingled with poverty and ™ap. 

wretchedness and unremitting toil. . . . The gulf between em- 

ployers and the employed is constantly widening and classes are 
rapidly forming, one composing the very rich and powerful, while 
in another are found the toiling poor. As we view the achieve- 
ments of aggregated capital we discover the existence of trusts, 
combinations, and monopolies, while the citizen is struggling far 
in the rear or is trampled to death beneath an iron heel. Cor- 
porations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of 
the law and servants of the people, are fast becoming the people's 
masters." Surely the changing order was bringing with it new 
maladies which were calling for new remedies. 

The Regulation of the Railroads 

Although statesmen were fully aware of the maladies of the day, Reread le 
they were extremely slow in applying remedies. There was one Abuses 
great problem, however, which, willing or unwilling, they had to 
take up. This was the transportation problem: public opinion 
demanded that they do something to remedy the evils that were 
rampant in railroad management. Railroad abuses had for many 
years been flagrant, but by the middle of the eighties they had 
become intolerable, and there was a loud cry for relief. 

From what quarter was the relief to come ? We learned that in 
the seventies the Grangers enacted laws regulating the business of 
railroads carried on wholly within their boundaries, and the laws 
were upheld by the Supreme Court. 1 But the net result of the 
granger movement was very small; the only thing accomplished 
by it was to establish the principle of control within the State. 
That this control was limited strictly to intra-state business was 
definitely settled in 1886 by the Supreme Court of the United 
States in a decision which held that State legislation affecting in- 
terstate commerce was unconstitutional. State regulation therefore 
was a broken reed upon which the people could not safely lean. 
If relief was to come it must be secured from Congress. Accord- 
ingly to that body the people carried their case. 

Their case had really been before Congress for many years. As ™£ oug 
early as 1873 an attempt was made to secure the passage of a law f { e ^° da 
bringing the railroads under Federal supervision, but in vain. p^ lr ° ad 

1 See p. 547. 



604 THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ORDER 



CHAP. 
XXIX 



The 

Interstate 
Commerce 
Act of 
1887 



A Good 
Commis- 



Weak Law 



Five years later the Reagan Bill was introduced and received seri- 
ous consideration, but it was killed by the railroad people. Power- 
ful lobbies were now being maintained at Washington, and resort 
was sometimes had to vicious methods in order to make Congress 
see things through railroad spectacles. Letters written by C. P. 
Huntington, president of the Southern Pacific, take us behind the 
scenes and bring into clear relief the fact that Congress was sub- 
jected to the pernicious influence of a railroad lobby. In one of 
these letters, written in March, 1877, is the following passage: "I 
stayed in Washington two days to fix up Railroad Committee in 
the Senate . . . the Committee is just as we want it, which is a 
very important thing for us." In a letter of November, 1877, he 
says: "If we are not hurt this season it will be because we pay 
much money to prevent it." No wonder the Reagan Bill was 
chloroformed ! But petitions continued to pour into Congress for 
railroad reform. The people of the West and South were in an 
angry mood and they refused to be put off. Accordingly, in 1885 
the Senate, responding to popular pressure, ordered an investiga- 
tion of the railroad situation to be made. 

Following in the w^akjiTof this investigation came the Interstate 
Commerce Act of 1887. This provided for the appointment by 
the President of an interstate commerce commission consisting of 
five members. The commission was given power to compel rail- 
road officials to produce their books and testify; to take notice of 
violations of the law and order the violator to desist from his 
illegal acts and fine him if he did not ; to provide a uniform system 
of railroad accounting; and to obtain from each road an annual 
report of its operations and finances. The act creating the com- 
mission declared that freight and passenger rates should be just 
and reasonable ; that there should be proper facilities for the inter- 
course of traffic between connecting lines; that railroads should 
print and make public their freight and passenger rates ; that there 
should be no pooling of traffic; that the charge for a long haul 
must not be less than for a shorter haul "under similar circum- 
stances"; that free interstate passes should not be issued; that 
there should be no discriminations between persons or localities. 

President Cleveland had doubts in regard to "government by 
commission" and he signed the Interstate Commerce Act with con- 
siderable reluctance. But as he had given the law his approval, he 
determined that it should be executed in good faith. As chairman 



THE REGULATION OF THE RAILROADS 605 

of the commission he appointed Thomas M. Cooley of Michigan, an xxfx' 

eminent jurist with experience in railroad matters. But it was 

impossible to administer the law so as to bring the relief that was 
sought, for it was a statute without teeth. It was so full of am- 
biguities and its language was so indefinite and vague that a 
member of the House of Representatives was led to assert on the 
floor while the bill was on its passage that it would take five years 
to ascertain precisely what the power of the commission was. As 
a matter of fact it took ten years to determine what those powers 
were; and when the question was at last settled in 1897 by the 
Supreme Court it was found that in the all-important matter of 
charges Congress had not given the commission power to fix rates 
effectively. "With such a feeble law to work with, the commission, 
do what it might, was unable to achieve any substantial reform. 
If one evil was cured another cropped out. "By 1890," says 
Professor Davis R. Dewey, "the practice of cut rates to favored 
shippers and cities was all but universal at the West ; passes were 
generally issued; rebates were charged up to maintenance by 
way of account ; special privileges of yardage, loading, and cartage 
were granted ; freight was underbilled or carried under a wrong 
classification ; and secret notification of an intended reduction of 
rates was made to favored shippers; some shippers suffered exas- 
perating and expensive delays in getting cars. The ingenuity of 
officials in breaking the spirit of the law knew no limit and is a 
discouraging commentary on the dishonesty which had penetrated 
into the heart of business enterprise. ' ' 1 

Although the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 was halting and 
timid, and although its results were inconsequential and disap- 
pointing, it was nevertheless a notable piece of legislation. It was 
the first important law passed for the purpose of regulating inter- 
state commerce. From the beginning Congress under the com- 
merce clause of the Constitution possessed complete power over 
interstate traffic, but for nearly a century it allowed the power to 
slumber. The act of 1887 was the declaration of a new policy ; 
henceforth the principle of Federal control was to be asserted, and 
it was to be applied until the control should one day become 
complete. 

1 Davis R. Dewey, "National Problems" ; p. 103. 



606 THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ORDER 



CHAP. 
XXIX 



Industrial Unrest 



A Harmless 
Measure 



Strikes, 

Lockouts, 

Boycotts 



National statesmen when considering the question of regulating 
the rates that the railroads should charge could see with half an 
eye that the wages of railroad employees was also a matter that 
the Government could not disregard entirely. At the time the 
Interstate Commerce Act was under discussion the country was 
seething with discontent, and nowhere were the manifestations of 
unrest more angry and troublesome than among railroad workers. 
With a view of providing a method by which controversies between 
interstate railroad corporations and their employees might be 
settled in a peaceable manner, a bill was brought into Congress 
in 1886 to establish a commission of arbitration which should have 
power to examine into the merits of a controversy and make a 
report upon the findings. The decision of the commission, how- 
ever, was to have no binding force whatever. The measure was 
debated in the House, where it was attacked by conservative mem- 
bers as unconstitutional. Laboring people objected to it because 
they thought it worthless. And largely on the ground that it was 
worthless many members voted for it. "I may possibly vote for 
the bill," said one member, "for the same reason that I would 
drink a glass of water — it might do me no good, but it certainly 
could do me no harm. We may safely vote for it; it is a very 
harmless measure." The bill passed in the House by a vote of 
199 to thirty, but in the Senate it was allowed to die. 

There could be no doubt that the bill was a timely measure, for 
arbitration was needed in all parts of the country. In 1886 from 
the shipyards of Maine to the railways of Texas and the Par West 
there was turmoil in the ranks of labor — strikes, lockouts, boycotts, 
rioting. The Knights of Labor, as we have seen, were now at the 
peak of their power, and they had much to do with the great up- 
heaval. It was they who directed the greatest strike of the year. 
This was on the Texas & Pacific Railway, where a mechanic who 
was a prominent Knight was discharged for what the railroad 
authorities considered a sufficient reason. The Knights took a 
different view of the matter and demanded the man's reinstate- 
ment. When this was refused the workmen struck. The strike 
spread until it affected six thousand miles of railway belonging to 
the Gould system and located in Texas, Missouri, Kansas, and 
Illinois. Grand Master Workman Powderly, the head of the 



INDUSTRIAL UNREST 607 

Knights, was opposed to violence and he strove to keep the strikers chap. 

within legal bounds. But in this he failed. "The Knights dis- ■ 

abled locomotives, pulled pins from the trains, ditched them by 
displacing rails, broke into roundhouses and machine-shops, opened 
water-tanks, tore up tracks, and intimidated and assaulted em- 
ployees willing to work." In some places the strike took the form 
of riot and incendiarism. In East St. Louis a squad of deputies 
fired upon a crowd and several persons were killed. The mob, 
infuriated by this act, applied the torch to raiiroad property and 
committed other deeds of violence. Jay Gould and Powderly 
undertook to submit the dispute to arbitration, but met with no 
success. After lasting seven weeks the strike finally ended on May 
3, 1886, in complete failure. 

No sooner had the great railroad strike terminated than labor Agitation 
began to agitate fiercely for a working day of eight hours. In Eight-hour 
1884 a convention of the Federation of Organized Trades and Day ' ng 
Labor Unions — afterward the American Federation of Labor — re- 
solved that after May 1, 1886, eight hours should constitute a legal 
day's labor throughout the United States. When the appointed 
day arrived employers quite generally refused to change from the 
ten-hour to the eight-hour day. As a result there were serious dis- 
putes and strikes all over the country. The storm-center of the 
eight-hour agitation was Chicago. Here, on May 1, 40,000 laborers 
struck. In the manufacturing districts the seven o'clock whistles 
were not heard, and the usual hurrying crowds of workmen were 
not seen. A procession of 10,000 lumbermen, headed by a man 
carrying a red flag, marched through the streets, halting from time 
to time to listen to speeches. As a result of the demonstration the 
business of the city was paralyzed and the utmost confusion pre- 
vailed. On May 3 a conflict at the McCormick Reaper Works took 
place between the police and the strikers. As strike-breakers 
employed in those works were leaving for their homes they were 
pelted with stones by friends of the strikers. Police arriving upon 
the scene were also received with stones. The guardians of the law 
fired, killing four and wounding many. 

Then next evening a mass-meeting was held in Haymarket Square ^stardiy 
tc protest against this "atrocious attack of the police in shooting ^.^ 
our fellow-workmen." The meeting was addressed by some 
anarchistic leaders, although it was not itself an anarchistic gather- 
ing. One of the speakers, an Englishman named Samuel Fielden, 



608 THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ORDER 

xxrx' denounced all government and shouted, "The law is your enemy, 

we are rebels against it. ' ' When the tenor of Fielden 's speech was 

made known to the police it was decided that the meeting ought to 
be broken up. Accordingly, 180 policemen marched into the 
square and when they were within a few steps of the wagon from 
which Fielden was speaking their captain ordered the crowd to 
disperse. Fielden got down from the wagon saying, "We are 
peaceable." At this moment a pistol was fired as if for a signal, 
and a bomb with a lighted fuse was thrown from a crowd of men 
standing in an alley directly opposite the wagon. The bomb 
struck the ground, exploded, and killed and wounded sixty men. 
The dastardly deed caused a state of panic to come over Chicago, 
and the whole country was shocked by the affair. Arrests were 
promptly made, and the trial of the accused persons was watched 
with nation-wide interest. The man who actually threw the bomb 
was never caught, but eight were indicted as accessories to the 
crime. Of these, seven were sentenced to death. Of those thus 
sentenced, one committed suicide, four were hanged, and two had 
their sentences commuted to imprisonment for life. At the trial 
the testimony showed that the bomb-throwing of May 4 was no 
accidental occurrence but a part of a program of violence advo- 
cated by the anarchists for the destruction of the existing order 
of society. There was no real bond of union between the anarchists 
and the men striking for the eight-hour day, yet the strikers had 
to suffer for what was done in Haymarket Square. "The effect 
of that bomb, ' ' said Samuel Gompers, ' ' was that it not only killed 
the policemen, but it killed our eight-hour movement for that year, 
and for a few years after, notwithstanding we had absolutely no 
connection with those people." 
a'ifd rogress ^ n * ne y ear 1&86, memorable in the annals of labor, social and 

Poverty" industrial unrest led to a historic municipal campaign in New 
York. The workmen of the metropolis expressed a desire that 
Henry George might lead them in this campaign. George was 
the author of ' ' Progress and Poverty, ' ' a book that with the excep- 
tion of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was more widely read than any 
volume that had ever been printed in America. In a brilliant and 
powerful manner George maintained the doctrine that under ex- 
isting social conditions the rich must necessarily grow richer and 
the poor must necessarily grow poorer. The cause of this was to 
be found in the private ownership of land and the natural 



A GREAT TARIFF BATTLE 609 

resources which are indissolubly connected with land. The remedy chap. 

proposed was the single tax : ' ' the entire burden of taxation should 

be levied upon land, irrespective of all improvements upon it, thus 

confiscating economic rent, freeing industry from taxation, and 

affording equal opportunity to all men by destroying the unfair 

advantage which the possession of land gives to monopoly." The 

justice of the single tax was defended on the ground that the 

value of land consists chiefly of an enhanced increment created 

not by the exertions of a landholder but by the progress of society, 

by the operation of social forces. George, responding to the wishes 

of the working-men, became their candidate and conducted a cam- George 

paign which marked one of the most spectacular events in the Cam P ai s n 

history of the labor movement in America. He was supported 

not only by hand-workers but by editors, lawyers, physicians, 

teachers. His opponent on the Democratic ticket was A. S. Hewitt ; 

on the Republican ticket was Theodore Roosevelt. The *vote cast 

was 90,000 for Hewitt, 68,000 for George, and 60,000 for Roosevelt. 

That such a heavy vote should be cast for such a radical cause 
made a profound impression upon the public mind. The workers 
of the country were elated, while business men were gloomy and 
apprehensive. The effect of the George campaign in New York 
was immediate and direct. The lawmakers at Albany in 1887 
hastened to pass laws creating a board of mediation and arbitra- 
tion, regulating the employment of women and children, perfecting 
the mechanic's lien, and amending the penal code by prohibiting 
employers from coercing employees not to join labor organiza- 
tions. 

Mutterings of the industrial storm of 1886 were heard in Con- 
gress, and with the view of securing industrial peace a Federal 
law was passed in 1888 providing for the settlement of differences 
between the railroads and their employees ; but in a practical way 
this statute was of little service. As a matter of fact Congress 
was not yet ready for effective legislation in new fields. It was 
not ambitious to pass great laws dealing with great problems. In 
twelve years two notable acts — the Civil Service Law and the 
Interstate Commerce Law — were the measure of its output. 

A Great Tariff Battle 

In 1887 Congress found itself confronted with an idea that it ^ uble . 
could neither run away from nor conveniently brush aside. This some Tariff 



610 THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ORDER 



CHAP. 
XXIX 



Cleveland's 
Ringing 
Message 
on the 
Tariff 



The Mills 
Bill 



was the troublesome idea of tariff reform. During the first two 
years of Cleveland's administration tariff revision made no head- 
way at all. This was partly because the Democrats in the House 
quarreled among themselves as to the methods of reduction, and 
partly because the Republican Senate was ready to block any 
measure that made substantial changes in existing rates. Indeed, 
it cannot be said that there was a deep-seated, insistent demand 
for a reduction of rates on the part of the people at large. The 
tariff question was accordingly allowed to slumber, although the 
President in his messages never tired of referring to the ruthless 
extortions of existing duties. 

In December, 1887, came a Presidential message on the tariff 
that awakened not only Congress, but the whole country as well. 
The document was devoted exclusively to a discussion of the tariff 
issue and was a ringing denunciation of the "vicious, illegal, and 
inequitable system of taxation" which was in force. The tariff, 
the President contended, ought to be revised downward. The 
immediate occasion for this recommendation was the surplus of 
income that was piling up in the Treasury. This surplus, as we 
have seen, was in Arthur's time about $100,000,000. 1 By the sum- 
mer of 1888 nearly $140,000,000, the President estimated, would 
be heaped up in the vaults of the Treasury, there either to lie idle 
or to serve as a constant invitation to reckless appropriation. It 
ought not to lie idle, for the withdrawal of so much money from 
circulation was disturbing to business. As for useless or extrava- 
gant expenditures, these, of course, could not be countenanced. 
The only remedy, then, for the ever-swelling surplus was to reduce 
the tariff rates, which were characterized as excessive and unneces- 
sary. At the close of his message the President disclaimed any 
desire to advocate free trade and expressed the hope that Congress 
would treat the matter as a purely practical problem. "Our 
progress, ' ' he said, ' ' toward a wise conclusion will not be improved 
by dwelling upon the theories of protection and free trade. This 
savors too much of bandying epithets. It is a condition which 
confronts us, not a theory." 

The sensation made by the message was profound. In political 
circles it exploded with the force of a powerful bomb. The ex- 
plosion, however, produced more consternation among Democrats 
than among Republicans; for the members of the President's party 

1 See p. 574. 



A GREAT TARIFF BATTLE 611 

were by no means united on the subject of the tariff. Many a xxix' 

Congressman was a high protectionist where the interests of his ■ 

own district were concerned, his tariff views resembling those of 
the Gloucester fisherman who said that on general principles he 
was for free trade, but he thought there ought to be a duty on 
herring. Yet the message could not be ignored, even though to 
practical minds it seemed that the President had committed 
political suicide. By way of supporting their leader the Demo- 
crats closed ranks and carried through the House a bill introduced 
by Roger Q. Mills of Texas. The bill reduced duties about 7 per 
cent, but it was plain that in the framing of it the philosophy of 
the Gloucester fisherman had considerable weight. "Protection 
of certain industries which flourished in Republican States was 
sacrificed, while it was left untouched in industries prospering in 
Democratic States. Duties on iron ore, beginning to be mined on 
a large scale in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, were preserved ; 
but on the finished products of iron and steel the reductions were 
large. The duty on rice, a Southern crop, was left practically 
unchanged ; while the duty on starch, a New York industry, sub- 
ject to Canadian competition, was halved. The grades of sugar 
produced in Louisiana were subject to but a modest reduction; 
while on the higher grades in which the South was not so much 
interested the decrease was greater. n 1 The bill, which was passed 
in the House of Representatives by a party vote, was taken to the 
Republican Senate, where in good time it died. 

Although the Mills Bill fell by the wavside it nevertheless served ^ e lss ? e 

° ^ Squarely 

to crystallize the tariff issue in the campaign of 1888, for it gave stated 
the Republicans a peg upon which to hang their opposition. In 
their platform they declared: "We denounce the Mills Bill as 
destructive to the general business, the labor, and the farming 
interests of the country, and we heartily indorse the consistent and 
patriotic action of the Republican representatives in Congress 
opposing its passage." The Democrats in their platform indorsed 
the Mills Bill and stood squarely with the President in his tariff 
message. "The Democratic party . . . indorses the views ex- 
pressed by President Cleveland in his last earnest message to 
Congress . . . upon the question of tariff reduction; and also in- 
dorses the efforts of our Democratic representatives in Congress to 
secure a reduction of excessive taxation." 
1 D. R, Dewey, "National Problems" ; p. 67, 



612 THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ORDER 



CHAP. 
XXIX 



The 

Standard- 
bearers 
in 1888 



The 

Greatest 

Tariff 

Battle in 

American 

History 



With the issue thus joined the Democrats had no difficulty in 
selecting a standard-bearer ; when their convention met in St. 
Louis on June 5 Cleveland was renominated without the formality 
of a ballot. On the Republican side the choice of a candidate was 
not so easy to make. Six months before the meeting of the Repub- 
lican convention everybody expected that Blaine would again be 
pitted against Cleveland. Early in 1888, however, Blaine in a 
letter written from Italy, where he was traveling, forbade the 
use of his name as a candidate. This withdrawal produced con- 
fusion in the plans of the party leaders, and when the Republican 
convention met in Chicago on June 19 the field was open and there 
were candidates in abundance. The balloting began with Senator 
John Sherman of Ohio in the lead. Among others whose names 
were placed in nomination were Walter Q. Gresham of Indiana, 
Chauncey M. Depew of New York, Russell A. Alger of Michigan, 
Benjamin Harrison of Indiana, and William B. Allison of Iowa. 
Sherman held the lead for six ballots but did not greatly increase 
his vote. On the seventh ballot Harrison, who had all the time 
been gaining in strength, ran ahead of Sherman and on the eighth 
won the prize. 

In the contest of 1888 the personalities of the candidates did 
not become an issue as in 1884. Consequently there was very little 
mud-slinging. The overshadowing subject was the tariff, and never 
before in all our history did that subject figure so conspicuously 
in a Presidential campaign. The contention of the Republicans 
was that the American system of protection must be maintained, 
and they labored in almost desperate fashion to convince the voters 
that if the Democrats won the system would be destroyed. Manu- 
facturing interests were alarmed by the cry of "British free 
trade." A spectacular feature of the campaign was the organiza- 
tion of thousands of political clubs. Of these the Republicans had 
more than 6000 while the Democrats had about 3000. Through 
the clubs a "campaign of education" was conducted; tons of 
pamphlets were circulated, and voters were given partisan instruc- 
tion on the questions at issue. But the managers of the campaign 
did not rely upon "education" alone. Regarding money as the 
"sinews of war," they provided themselves with the largest cam- 
paign funds that up to that time had ever been raised. The 
Democrats relied chiefly upon assessments on office-holders, while 
the Republicans "put the manufacturers under the fire and fried 







o sg; 

- !|: 

I— <e°-< 

• o < : 

u If! 

I- l 5 i 

o -I: 

a. =S: 



Q 

z 

< 



I LxJ 

I o 

I < 
q: 

UJ 



a: Ssi 



A GREAT TARIFF BATTLE 



613 



The contributions which flowed into the g^ffi - 



the fat out of them. 

campaign treasuries were spent like water. More was spent by the 
Republicans because they had more. In Indiana there was an 
extra outlay of "the needful." A letter said to have been written 
by W. W. Dudley, treasurer of the national Republican commit- 
tee, read as follows : ' ' Divide the floaters [the purchasable voters] 
into blocks of five, and put a trusted man with the necessary funds 
in charge of these five, and make him responsible that none get 
away, and that all vote our ticket." The mandate seems to have 
been obeyed. "In one place on the night before the election more 
than a hundred of the floaters were collected in various buildings, 
with sentries to guard them against surprise by the foe. Wagon- 
loads of them were taken into the surrounding country ready to be 
rushed to the polls at sunrise before they could fall into the hands 
of the enemy. In this particular market the price of votes had 
risen since 1880 from $2 to about $15. ' ' x 

The vote was unusually heavy. More than eleven million ballots 
were cast; and the contest was unusually close. Harrison was 
elected, yet a change of 10,000 votes in Indiana and New York, 
both of which were carried by the Republicans, would have 
reelected Cleveland. Harrison received 233 electoral votes against 
Cleveland's 168. The popular vote was 5,439,853 for Harrison 
and 5,540,329 for Cleveland. Cleveland therefore received about 
100,000 more votes than Harrison. In the congressional elections 
the Republicans were victorious. We may say, accordingly, that 
protection won the day. "On the whole," says F. W. Taussig, "the 
Republicans held their own and even made gains throughout the 
country on the tariff issue ; and they might fairly consider the 
result a popular verdict in favor of the system of protection." 



Protection 
Wins a 
Victory 



Suggested Readings 

Industry and laisser-faire : Lingley, pp. 242-259. 

The changing order : Haworth, pp. 14G-163. 

Mugwump campaign : Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 419-449. 

Return of democracy : Haworth, pp. 164-183. 

Rise of the wage-earner : Lingley, pp. 303-325. 

The great upheaval in the labor world : Commons, Vol. II, pp. 356-395. 

Large-scale production : Van Metre, pp. 415-441. 

The combination movement : Lippincott, pp. 469-490. 

1 E. B. Andrews, "The History of the United States in Our Own Time' 
p. 588. 



XXX 

THE NEW WEST; THE TARIFF AND THE TRUSTS 

IN the campaign of 1888 the Republicans had promised that if 
their candidate should be elected the people would be protected 
against the schemes of the giant corporations. They had also 
promised to hasten the admission of several Territories in the Far 
West that were seeking to become States. The election, further- 
more, was construed by the victors as a mandate for perfecting 
the system of protection. It was to be expected, therefore, that 
the Harrison administration would deal with problems connected 
with the development of the Far West, with the revision of the 
tariff, and with the control of "big business." 

The Second Harrison 
Benjamin T] ie man who entered the White House on March 4, 1889, to 

Harrison ' 

succeed President Cleveland was descended from Governor Benja- 
min Harrison of Virginia, a signer of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and was the grandson of President William Henry 
Harrison. He was born in 1833 at North Bend, Ohio. Having 
been graduated at Miami University, he studied law in Cincinnati 
and was admitted to the bar. In 1854 he opened a law office in 
Indianapolis and that city became his permanent home. Answer- 
ing Lincoln's call for volunteers, he entered the army as a lieu- 
tenant, but in less than a week he was made a captain, and in less 
than a month he was a colonel. Before the war ended he was 
holding the rank of brigadier-general. In 1881 he entered the 
United States Senate, where he remained until 1887. He was an 
accomplished lawyer and an excellent public speaker. He was 
lacking, however, in personal affability. It was said of him that 
if he should address an audience of ten thousand men he would 
capture them all, but that if each one of the ten thousand should 
meet him in private every man of them would go away an enemy. 
Sherman, the principal opponent of Harrison for the nomination, 
614 



THE SECOND HARRISON 615 

was called "the hyperborean icicle." "Sherman," said a delegate, <g|P- 
"won't do; he is too cold." "Why," replied a supporter of the — — 
Ohio man, "he is a red-hot stove compared to Harrison." The 
repellent principle in the new President was indeed so active that 
he sometimes managed to confer a favor in such an ungracious 
manner that the recipient felt an injury had been inflicted. 
For his cabinet President Harrison selected Blaine as secretary Harri son's 

^ Cabinet 

of state; William Wmdom of Minnesota as secretary of the treas- 
ury; Redfield Proctor of Vermont as secretary of war; John W. 
Noble of Missouri as secretary of the interior; W. H. H. Miller of 
Indiana as attorney-general; Benjamin F. Tracy of New York as 
secretary of the navy; John Wanamaker of Pennsylvania as 
postmaster-general; and J. M. Rusk of Wisconsin as secretary of 
agriculture. The selection of Blaine as the premier of the admin- 
istration was accepted by the public as a compliance with well- 
established precedent. He had been the secretary of state under 
Garfield; he had used his influence to secure the nomination of 
Harrison; and he had worked with all his might for the success 
of the Republican ticket in 1888. Inasmuch as he was easily the 
outstanding figure of his party, the President virtually had no 
choice in the matter; he must offer the portfolio of state to Blaine. 
With the exception of the secretary of state, the members of this 
cabinet were men who in the public eye occupied a position only 
a little higher than that of "respectable mediocrity." 

The new administration at the outset was vexed, of course, by AQuestion^ 
the question of patronage. Should the public offices be converted 
into party barracks? What Republican workers should be re- 
warded with "plums"? What should be done with Democratic 
incumbents? The attitude of the President toward the merit 
system was made known in his inaugural address: "Heads of 
departments . . . will be expected to enforce the Civil Service Law 
fully and without evasion. Beyond this obvious duty I hope to do 
something more to advance the reform of the civil service. The 
ideal, or even my own ideal, I shall probably not attain." Office- 
seekers, however, were not wholly discouraged, for in the address 
were the significant words: "Honorable party service will cer- 
tainly not be esteemed by me a disqualification for public office. 
... It is entirely creditable to seek public office by proper methods 
and with proper motives; and all applicants will be treated with 
consideration." This was construed by place-hunters as an invi- 



616 THE NEW WEST; THE TARIFF AND THE TRUSTS 



CHAP. 
XXX 



Nepotism ; 
"Bridling 
the Press" 



Roosevelt 
and Civil 
Service 
Reform 



tation for a scramble. The President held firm for the Civil 
Service Law as it stood on the books, but outside of the range of 
the classified service removals were made on a scale that amounted 
virtually to a clean sweep. With the appointment of J. S. Clarkson 
as first assistant postmaster-general the decapitation of Democratic 
fourth-class postmasters began, and the ax swung so vigorously 
that within a few months a New York paper exclaimed : ' ' Fifteen 
thousand fourth-class postmasters have been removed to date and 
Mr. Clarkson remains in Washington with his coat off and his 
shirt sleeves rolled up. Go it, Clarkson ! Out with the whole 
55,000 by January 1st." In a single year the heads of thirty 
thousand officials fell into the basket. 

In the distribution of the patronage the President was friendly 
enough to the suggestions of spoilsmen like Mathew Quay of 
Pennsylvania and ''Boss" Piatt of New York. 1 Nor did he disdain 
to practise nepotism or to subsidize the press. "President Harri- 
son," says H. T. Peck, "looked very carefully after the interests 
of his own relatives. Offices were given by him to his father-in- 
law, to his son's father-in-law, to his daughter's brother-in-law, to 
his own brother, and to several of his son's college chums. He 
also brought upon himself much criticism by bestowing important 
places on the editors of newspapers which had supported him in 
the late campaign. Mr. Whitelaw Reid of the New York 'Tribune' 
received the mission to France. Mr. Thorndike Rice, editor of ' The 
North American Review', . . . was made Minister to Russia. Mr. 
Enander, a Chicago editor, became Minister to Denmark. One 
J. S. Clarkson, editor of the 'Iowa State Register,' was allowed to 
distribute the fourth-class postmasterships. The editor of the 
'Utica Herald' became Assistant United States Treasurer at New 
York. Mr. Robert P. Porter of the New York 'Press' was ap- 
pointed head of the Census Bureau." 

But the surrender to considerations of party expediency was 
not complete. In spite of the politicians the President kept his 
promise and administered the Civil Service Law in a way that- 
resulted in advancing the cause of civil service reform. He ap- 
pointed Theodore Roosevelt a member of the civil service commis- 
sion, and the rising young statesman brought to the office an 
aggressiveness and a decisiveness of action that disturbed and 
alarmed the practical politicians. He believed thoroughly in the 

1 See p. 573. 



"A SPIRITED FOREIGN POLICY" 617 

merit system, contending that it was the system of "fair play, C , H A P - 
of common sense, and common honesty. ' ' He recognized, however, — — 
that the old patronage system was deeply imbedded in the habits 
and thoughts of the people. "At Washington," he said in 1889, 
"we still have to face the active and envenomed hostility of an 
immense mass of politicians. We have not only to make every 
advance in the teeth of the fiercest opposition, but we have to 
fight every hour to keep the ground that we have gained." In 
order to build up sentiment for the reform, he went among the 
people and made speeches to convince them of the soundness of 
the merit system. He remained at his post throughout the Harri- 
son administration and by the end of the term it could be seen 
that the reform had made a "prodigious advance both in public 
opinion and practical application." Not only was the classified 
service extended and the tenure of employees made more certain, 
but the evil of levying assessments upon the salaries of office- 
holders was growing less flagrant. "The system of party assess- 
ments in the civil service," said George William Curtis in 1891, 
"and the kindred evil of the interference of office holders in elec- 
tions, are now so effectively stigmatized by public opinion that 
although not abandoned, they have become disgraceful." 

"A Spirited Foreign Policy" 

More serious than questions of patronage, although less vexa- 
tious perhaps, were the foreign complications. These were more 
numerous and more perplexing in the Harrison administration 
than they had been since the days of President Grant. But they 
were not too numerous or too perplexing for the new secretary of 
state; for Blaine desired that his department should hold a con- 
spicuous place on the arena of international affairs. Indeed he 
was so infatuated with the idea of "a spirited foreign policy" 
that his enthusiasm at times carried him almost if not quite to 
the point of jingoism. 

The first question with which the ambitious secretary had to American 
deal was a legacy inherited from the previous administration and F n x the nsi ° 
had to do with the establishment of a proper government for the 
distant Samoan Islands where in the harbor of Pago-Pago on the 
island of Tutuila the United States had secured a coaling-station. 
Germany and Great Britain also had obtained grants in these 



Pacific 



618 THE NEW WEST; THE TARIFF AND THE TRUSTS 

xxx P ' islands. During Cleveland's administration clashing commercial 

' interests and intrigues and jealousies among the natives led to 

quarrels in which the three nations were involved. In order to 
arrange for the peaceful government of the islands Secretary 
Bayard in 1887 invited England and Germany to unite in a con- 
ference with the United States. The conference was held but no 
decision was reached. Things on the island went from bad to worse 
until January, 1889, when the American flag in Apia was seized 
by armed Germans. American and German war vessels appeared 
upon the scene and a naval battle seemed inevitable. But before 
any blows were struck a terrible hurricane on March 16 destroyed 
every vessel in the harbor except one. The awful disaster had the 
effect of relieving the tension and dispelling all thoughts of war. 
Another conference of the three powers was called in April, 1889, 
holding its sessions in Berlin. The German chancellor, Bismarck, 
insisted on the predominance of Germany in the islands. During 
the negotiations he displayed much bad temper and assumed a 
bearing that seemed full of menace. The Americans cabled to 
Blaine informing him that Bismarck was very irritable. The 
secretary gave a taste of his quality by flashing back: "The ex- 
tent of the chancellor's irritability is not the measure of American 
rights." The British took sides with the Americans, with the 
result that a treaty was entered into whereby there was estab- 
lished over the islands a protectorate in which the three powers 
were to participate. This arrangement stood until 1899 when 
Great Britain withdrew entirely from Samoan affairs; the United 
States received Tutuila clear of encumbrance, and Germany took 
the rest of the group. The Samoan incident in itself was an 
affair of no very great importance, yet the setting up of the pro- 
tectorate marked the beginning of American expansion among the 
far-off islands of the Pacific. 
The seal- Another inheritance handed down to Blaine from the Cleveland 

Dispute* administration was a dispute with Great Britain over seal fisheries 
in Alaskan waters. Shortly after acquiring Alaska Congress 
passed stringent laws against the killing of fur-bearing animals 
on Alaskan soil or in the waters adjacent thereto. In 1870 the 
Government leased to the Alaskan Commercial Co. the privilege 
of taking fur seals in the Pribyloff Islands under regulations de- 
signed to protect seal life. But this protection was not easy to 
o-ive. Poaching was frequent and reckless. Canadians and Rus- 



"A SPIRITED FOREIGN POLICY'' 619 

sians would pursue the animals in the open sea, killing males and c X xx P ' 

females, in utter disregard of the preservation and nurture of 

the young, and carrying the slaughter so far that the total extinc- 
tion of the species was threatened. In 1886 our Government, 
declaring that the whole Bering Sea belonged to the United States, 
caused the seizure of three British schooners that were fishing 
in the forbidden waters. This offended the British Government, 
which claimed the right to hunt seals in waters outside the three- 
mile limit from the shore. Diplomatic correspondence in regard 
to the matter was begun but without definite results. At the 
threshold of the Harrison administration Congress took the subject 
in hand and boldly declared that the prohibition of killing seals 
within the limits of Alaskan territory should apply "to all the 
dominions of the United States in the waters of the Bering Sea." 
This declaration of Congress and further seizures of British vessels 
led to a controversy between Secretary Blaine and Lord Salisbury 
which was so heated that at times there were fears of a breach 
between Great Britain and the United States. After much fruit- 
less argument and after many charges and countercharges had 
been made, arbitration was finally agreed upon. The decisions ren- 
dered by the board of arbitration were uniformly against the 
United States. The gist of the decisions was that our jurisdiction 
in the Bering Sea did not extend beyond the three-mile limit and 
that therefore the United States had no right of protection or 
property in seals outside that limit. 

While Secretary Blaine was wrangling with Lord Salisbury he ™ e N ^ fia 
was busy enough in other directions. Early in 1891 he was con- Orleans 
fronted by a breach in friendly relations between Italy and the 
United States. The occasion of the rupture was the killing of 
Italian subjects by a mob in New Orleans. The men killed were 
members of the Mafia, a secret organization made up largely of 
murderers and cut-throats, whose very existence was a source of 
danger to any community that might shelter them. In March, 
1891, a band of these criminals, who for a long time had been 
extorting money from citizens in New Orleans and terrorizing the 
city in various ways, fell upon and foully murdered the chief of 
police. Twenty-two Italians were arrested. When it seemed that 
no convictions would follow, a mob was organized and the pris- 
oners were taken from jail and lynched. Italy at once demanded 
that the mob should be punished and that an indemnity should 



620 THE NEW WEST; THE TARIFF AND THE TRUSTS 

\xx ' be paid. Blaine answered that his Government had no local juris- 
diction in Louisiana but that he would give the affair the most 
serious consideration. The Italian minister at Washington then 
intimated that he would leave the country if the American Govern- 
ment did not take immediate action. Blaine replied: "I do not 
recognize the right of any government to tell the United States 
what to do. We have never received orders from any foreign 
power and shall not begin now." Thereupon the Italian minister 
at once took passage for Italy. The American minister at Rome 
was withdrawn, and the diplomatic negotiations between the two 
countries had to be carried on by subordinates. But amicable re- 
lations were soon restored. Congress as an act of grace voted 
$25,000 to be distributed among the families of the men who had 
been killed. The Italian Government accepted the payment, and 
the incident was closed. The episode revealed with great clearness 
a defect in our governmental system : it showed that owing to the 
relations which exist between the Federal Government and the 
States serious complications with foreign powers may arise with 
which the National Government will be helpless to deal because of 
its limited authority under the Constitution. 

strained The Italian imbroglio contained elements of danger that caused 

Relations ° ° 

with chile apprehension, but at the time of its occurrence there existed in 
Chile a situation that was even more disquieting. In January, 
1890, a civil war broke out there, the contestants being a congres- 
sional party and the adherents of Manuel Balmaceda, the president 
of the republic. The congressionalists set up a government of their 
own, but since it was our policy to give no encouragement to such 
revolts, Blaine continued to recognize Balmaceda as the lawful 
president. This did little harm to the congressionalists, for it 
happened that Blaine was hated by all classes of Chileans because 
they felt they had been treated unfairly by him in 1882 when he 
was secretary of state under Garfield. The congressionalists 
charged that the action of the American Government was due to 
an unfriendly spirit, and the attitude which the} 7 assumed toward 
the United States was highly offensive. The relations were further 
strained by the Itata incident. This vessel, chartered by the con- 
gressional party, set out from San Diego, California, with a supply 
of guns and ammunition for the use of the revolutionists. An 
American cruiser was despatched in pursuit. A naval encounter 
was expected, but the congressionalists, regarding discretion as the 



THE NEW WEST 621 

better part of valor, surrendered the vessel with its military sup- ^xx P " 

plies to the naval authorities of the United States. It was after- 

ward decided by a Federal district court that the seizure of the 
Itata was unwarranted. In their contest with Balmaceda the 
revolutionists were successful ; they captured Santiago and estab- 
lished a government which in September, 1891, was recognized by 
the United States. 

But there was more trouble ahead. Resentment in Chile against An insult 
the United States was very strong, and it manifested itself in Apology 
many ways. In October an assault was made in the streets of 
Valparaiso on some American sailors from the war-ship Baltimore. 
One American was killed and eighteen injured. President Harri- 
son demanded redress and in his annual message to Congress 
referred to the matter in language that was displeasing to Seiior 
Matta, the Chilean minister of foreign affairs. Matta communi- 
cated with the foreign representatives of the Chilean Government, 
declaring that what Harrison said in his message was erroneous 
or deliberately incorrect and that there was no exactness or sin- 
cerity in official utterances at Washington. This insult to our 
President was taken by the American people as an insult to them- 
selves, and popular indignation was intense. The administration 
prepared for war and presented to the Chilean Government an 
ultimatum demanding that Matta 's communication should be with- 
drawn and an apology offered, and that an indemnity should be 
paid for the outrage on the American sailors. The ultimatum did 
its work : the apology was offered and an adequate sum was paid 
to the injured sailors. 

The New West 



States 



The embroilments of the Harrison administration created much seven New 
excitement, but only the surface of American life was agitated. 
Of deeper significance than the fulminations of the State Depart- 
ment against foreign governments were the Presidential procla- 
mations that announced the admission of new States. It fell to 
the lot of Harrison to admit a greater number of these than were 
ever admitted during the administration of any other President. 

The new sisters were the development of a new West that had 
just arisen out of a wilderness. The raw territories of the sixties x 
were assuming the character of well-ordered, populous common- 

»See p. 539. 



622 THE NEW WEST; THE TARIFF AND THE TRUSTS 



CHAP. 
XXX 



The 

Northern 
Pacific 
and the 
Northwest 



wealths and were fit candidates for statehood. In 1889 the Terri- 
tory of Dakota * was divided and organized into two States, North 
Dakota and South Dakota, which came into the Union on the same 
day. In less than a week afterward Montana was admitted, and 
three days after the admission of Montana the Territory of Wash- 
ington became a State. In 1890 Idaho and Wyoming were 
admitted. Utah by this time had a population sufficient for state- 
hood, and she asked for admission. But this could not be granted 
as long as the Mormons recognized the custom of polygamy. As 
early as 1882 Congress had begun by means of stringent legisla- 
tion to wage war upon polygamy. At first the Mormons were not 
disposed to abandon what they regarded as a religious custom, but 
gradually they submitted to the Federal power. In 1894 Utah 
was given permission to frame a constitution and two years later 
she came into the Union. 

The building up of this New West was the biggest thing in the 
history of the American nation in the eighties. The development 
was due to the transcontinental railways, the story of whose con- 
struction has already been told. 2 Seven years after the completion 
of the Northern Pacific another belt of States stretched from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific. Nothing in the later history of the west- 
ward movement is more remarkable than the rapid growth of 
this new Northwest. Men still living can tell of the time when 
they traveled through this region on horseback for days and did 
not see a single human being. With the coming of the railroad 
the wilderness vanished like the mist before the sun. Communities 
grew so rapidly that some counties with scarcely an inhabitant 
at the beginning of the summer were well populated at the end 
of the year. "In the Dakotas a young man of college age in 1890 
might have remembered almost the entire significant portion of 
the history of his State and have been one of the oldest inhabit- 
ants." In two decades before 1880 Washington added only about 
50,000 to its population, but when the railroad came to develop 
its natural resources, its forests and mines and grazing lands, it 
began to grow at an amazing rate, the number of its inhabitants 
jumping from 75,000 in 1880 to more than 350,000 in 1890. 
Tacoma, Spokane, and Seattle, mere villages in 1880, by 1890 were 
flourishing cities. What was taking place in the New Northwest 

1 See p. 537. 
'See p. 577. 




Q 



tf 



>H 







623 



624 THE NEW WEST; THE TARIFF AND THE TRUSTS 



CHAP. 
XXX 



The Union 
Pacific and 
the Central 
West 



The 

Santa Fe 
and the 
Southwest 



in the eighties is indicated by the census returns which show that 
the combined population of the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, and 
Washington increased fourfold between 1880 and 1890. 

Miracles of progress had also been wrought in the broad and 
illimitable stretches of the Central West. By 1890 the "Great 
American Desert" had been so far transformed that it was now 
the abode of civilized man. Buffaloes no longer roamed over the 
plains blocking the movements of emigrant parties 1 or delaying 
trains by standing on the tracks. About 1870 the easy slaughter 
of these sluggish beasts was begun with the view of their exter- 
mination, and within a decade all the great herds were gone. 
Roaming bands of warring Indians too were gone, for without 
the buffalo to give them food and clothing and bowstrings and 
skins for their tents they found it difficult to sustain themselves. 
These changes in the Central West, as we have already seen, 2 be- 
gan with the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. By 1890 the 
transformation of the country traversed by this pioneer road 
and its branches was surprising in its completeness. The Indian- 
infested Nebraska had suddenly become a great grain-growing 
State with highly organized social and political institutions, with 
a public school system, and with a population of more than a 
million souls. Omaha had a population of nearly 70,000. Col- 
orado, 3 no longer a mere community of mining-camps, was develop- 
ing a profitable agriculture and was boasting of a population that 
was approaching the half -million mark. Denver, a little place of 
20,000 at the time the railroad came, was by 1890 a city of more 
than 100,000. Wyoming and Utah also responded to the influence 
of the Union Pacific, the former increasing its population sixfold 
between 1870 and 1890. Salt Lake City was now a place of 
nearly 50,000. 

By this time too a new Southwest had emerged. While the 
Union Pacific was opening up the Central West and the Northern 
Pacific the new Northwest, another great line, the Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe, was extending civilization into the unoccupied 
regions of western Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and the present 
Oklahoma. From the main line of the Santa Fe connecting roads 
were built southward, and these hastened the growth of northern 



1 See p. 353. 
'See p. 540. 
8 See p. 541. 



THE NEW WEST 625 

and western Texas. The immense vacant areas of the Lone Star ™x P * 

State began to fill up with people. The area of farming land in 

Texas increased between 1870 and 1890 to an amount roughly- 
equivalent to the combined areas of New Hampshire, Vermont, and 
Massachusetts. Towns and cities began to appear. San Antonio, 
Fort Worth, and Dallas soon became important inland centers of 
trade, while Galveston and Houston took their places among the 
great exporting cities of the United States. 

But the marvel of growth in this new Southwest was Oklahoma. Oklahoma 
For the railroad entered the Indian Territory, 1 and with it came 
the pale-face seeking land in the red man's country. In 1889 
more than 5,000,000 acres of Indian lands in the so-called Indian 
Territory were purchased by Congress for the sum of about 
$4,000,000. President Harrison at once by proclamation threw 
open to settlement the tract known as the Cherokee Strip. A 
horde of eager pioneers was already on the border waiting for 
the signal which was to indicate when it should be lawful to enter 
the newly opened lands. The signal was given by the blast of a 
bugle at noon on April 22, and the rush that began was one of the 
wildest in the whole history of the westward movement. In some 
cases men jumped from the windows of rapidly moving trains and 
scampered across the country in order to be the first to reach some 
desirable tract and make good their claims. "Men on horseback 
and afoot, in every conceivable vehicle, sought homes with the 
utmost speed and before nightfall townsites were laid out for sev- 
eral thousand inhabitants each. At noon on the eventful day 
Guthrie was non-existent ; at nightfall it was a city of 10,000 and 
was taking steps to organize as a municipality." By December 
60,000 persons had settled in Oklahoma, as the newly settled dis- 
trict was called. The next year Oklahoma — the Beautiful Land — 
was erected into a Territory. 

While the white man was spreading his power over the West in [^ Lines 
this rapid manner, the red man was all the time having the lines f n ™£n dthe 
drawn tighter and tighter about him. For many years after the 
Civil War the Indians gave fight to the encroaching enemy, and 
many a time the Far West was ablaze with war. In these engage- 
ments scores of officers and hundreds of men lost their lives. 
Although the Indians were not always blameless, too often the 
fault lay at the white man's door. "The Indians," said President 

1 See p. 304. 



626 THE NEW WEST; THE TARIFF AND THE TRUSTS 

£xx ? ' Hayes in 1877, "have been driven from place to place. In many 

instances, when they settled down in lands assigned to them by 

compact and began to support themselves by their own labor, 
they were rudely jostled off and thrust into the wilderness again. 
Many, if not most, of our Indian wars have had their origin in 
broken promises and acts of injustice on our part." 
Literal But; the pushing back of the Indian could not go on indefinitely, 

Pohcy £ or th ere was no longer a wilderness into which he could be 

driven. "The Indian," said Secretary Lamar in 1885, "must 
make his final stand for existence where he is now." By the end 
of the eighties it was plain that if the Indian question was not 
taken up and dealt with firmly the aborigines might suffer exter- 
mination. To meet the problem Congress in 1887 passed the Dawes 
Bill, which provided that the President might divide the reserves 
among the Indians located on them, allotting 160 acres to each 
head of a family, eighty acres to single adults and orphans, and 
forty acres to each dependent child. Where allotments were thus 
made in severalty tribal ownership was to cease and the title to 
each farm was to rest in the individual Indian. Moreover, under 
this law the Indian was admitted to citizenship. More than 
150,000 Indians, taking advantage of the Dawes Bill, became land- 
owners and American citizens. But the tribal Indians left on the 
reservations were not forgotten. During the administrations of 
Cleveland and Harrison Congress began to make liberal appro- 
priations for the education of Indian youths on the reservations, 
and it provided agencies for protecting the Indians against the 
injustice and rapacity of the white man. The liberal policy 
adopted in those days has never been abandoned. For more than 
thirty years the American Indian has been an especial object of 
the white man's care. 

Politics and Legislation 

In Washington throughout the Harrison administration it was 
politics, politics, politics. Nobody sneezed unless in reference to 
party expediency. The men in power left no stone unturned to 
make things safe for the Republican party, while the Democrats, 
equally alert to the situation, played the political game for all it 
was worth. 
Procedure'" ^he ^ rst mat ter attended to by the Republicans in Congress was 
to make sure that they should not be cheated out of any party 



POLITICS AND LEGISLATION 627 

advantage that rightfully belonged to them in the House of Rep- xx.\ P ' 

resentatives. For the first time since the "tidal wave" of 1874 

they had a President and a clear majority in both houses. But 
their House majority was slender and could be nullified by sharp 
parliamentary practice and by filibustering. Accordingly, led 
by their speaker, Thomas B. Reed of Maine, the Republicans set 
out to break down practices in which both parties had been accus- 
tomed to indulge. Early in the session when a vote was taken on 
a contested seat which by the decision of a committee had been 
accorded to a Republican, the Republicans could not muster the 
majority necessary for a constitutional quorum. By remaining 
silent and refusing to vote when the roll was called the Democrats 
had been able to defeat the seating of the member. But Speaker 
Reed, taking the bull by the horns, directed the clerk to record 
the Democrats, calling them by name, as being present. Since a 
count of this kind would result in a quorum and enable the Re- 
publicans to seat their man, the action of the speaker created 
consternation in the ranks of the opposition. "I deny your right, 
Mr. Speaker, to count me," said a Democrat, citing a rule to 
support his contention. Reed calmly replied with characteristic 
drawl : ' ' The chair is making a statement of fact that the gentle- 
man from Kentucky is present. Does he deny it?" Precedent 
was against the speaker, but common sense was on his side. He 
persisted in making rulings that set aside precedent but expedited 
legislation. In the end he triumphed, for the House adopted two 
rules by which the speaker was given power : ( 1 ) to refuse to 
entertain dilatory motions; and (2) to count members present when 
determining the matter of a quorum. The Democrats raged and 
denounced Reed as a "czar," but a few years later when they 
returned to power they did not hesitate to avail themselves of th 
rules which the "czar" had forced upon them. 

The adoption of the Reed rules cleared the decks for effective Getting 

. Rid of the 

action by the Republicans. The first thing taken up was the sur- surplus 
plus. This consisted of nearly $100,000,000 bequeathed by Cleve- 
land to the Harrison administration. The legacy did not prove 
to be a troublesome one, for statesmen find a surplus vastly easier 
to handle than a deficit. Adopting the policy that the best way 
to get rid of superfluous money is to spend it, the Republicans 
went about their task in a cheerful mood. In their platform of 
1888 they demanded liberal pensions for the soldiers who had 



628 THE NEW WEST; THE TARIFF AND THE TRUSTS 

xxx P ' fought in the Civil War, and during the canvass they had been 

heartily supported by the Grand Army of the Republic. Here 

was an opportunity to tap the surplus. With little difficulty the 
Dependent Pensions Bill was passed in June, 1890. Soldiers who 
had served ninety days on the Union side during the Civil War 
were granted a pension of from six to twelve dollars a month, 
according "to the degree of inability to earn a support." Under 
this law pensions, for the first time, were granted to disabled ex- 
soldiers even though the disability was not due to military service. 
The widows, children, and dependent parents of ex-soldiers were 
also entitled to pensions. The act was the most sweeping of all 
the pension acts that had been passed, and it set an example for 
future pension legislation that was to cost more money than had 
been spent for the Civil War itself. Under this law the number 
of pensioners increased from less than 500,000 in 1889 to nearly 
1,000,000 in 1893, while the annual sum expended shot up from 
$89,000,000 to $157,000,000. 

Expenditures for the navy also mounted, going from $17,000,000 
in 1889 to $30,000,000 in 1893. The expenditure of Harrison's 
first Congress exceeded that of any previous Congress by $170,- 
000,000, and amounted altogether to about $1,000,000,000. Hence 
this Congress — the Fifty-first — came to be known as the Billion- 
dollar Congress. When somebody called it by this name in the 
presence of Speaker Reed he replied : ' ' Yes, but this is a billion- 
dollar country." 

The While the pension bill was under way the Republicans in Con- 

Rights of * ...... 

the Blacks gress were planning to strengthen their political fences in the 

South. The negro vote in the Southern States had by this time 
been reduced to an almost negligible factor owing to the unfair 
and intimidating methods adopted by the whites to keep the blacks 
from the polls. This suppression of the negro vote seemed to 
Republican leaders to be a wrong to their party as well as an 
injustice to the black man. They were therefore determined that 
negroes should be given an opportunity to cast their ballots. That 
the ballots would be cast for Republican candidates was not to be 
doubted. Negroes had remained true to the Republican party, but 
the party had not remained true to them. The measure brought 
forward to resuscitate the rights of the blacks was the Federal 
Elections Bill, generally known as the Force Bill. It was intro- 
duced in the House in June, 1890, by Henry Cabot Lodge, "as a 



POLITICS AND LEGISLATION 629 

national bill intended to guard Congressional elections in every chap. 

part of the country. ' ' But in reality it was a sectional bill aimed : 

directly at the South, as Lodge himself virtually admitted. "It 
is believed by a very large portion of the American people," he 
said, "that there are districts in the South where fraud in some 
form controls despotically the verdict of the ballot-box. . . . We 
have clothed the negroes with the attributes of American citizen- 
ship. We have put in their hands the emblems of American 
sovereignty. Whether wisely or unwisely done is of no conse- 
quence now; it has been done and it is irrevocable. The Govern- 
ment which made the black man a citizen of the United States is 
bound to protect him in his rights as a citizen of the United States 
and it is a cowardly Government if it does not do it." These words 
carried terror to the hearts of Southern Democrats, for the bill 
which Lodge was advocating provided for a close and effective 
Federal supervision of elections; and that, to the Southern mind, 
meant the return of negro domination. The bill encountered a 
storm of opposition and precipitated the bitterest fight that Con- 
gress had known for many a year. By a rigid application of party 
discipline and of Reed's rules the measure passed the House, but 
in the Senate after a long and acrimonious debate it was side- 
tracked and lost. While its failure was due chiefly to political 
causes, subtle economic causes also worked for its defeat. "I 
shall vote," said Don Cameron, a Republican senator from Penn- 
sylvania, "against the Federal Election Bill. . . . The South is 
now resuming a quiet condition. Northern capital has been flow- 
ing into the South in great quantities, manufacturing establish- 
ments have been created and are now in full operation, and a 
community of commercial interests is fast obliterating sectional 
lines, and will result, in the not far distant future, in forming one 
homogeneous mass of people, whether living in the North, South, 
East, or West. The election law would distort this desirable con- 
dition and produce ill-feeling between the North and South." 

The Democrats in the Senate would have been unable to block The snver 
the passage of the Force Bill had they not received assistance Looms 
from the Republican side. This was given by silver Republicans 
who helped to set aside the election bill with the expectation of 
securing Democratic votes for legislation favorable to the white 
metal. The silver question was now looming larger than ever 
before. It had arisen under the previous administration, but was 



Large 



630 THE NEW WEST; THE TARIFF AND THE TRUSTS 

™x P< smothered because President Cleveland was firm in his stand 
against silver. Under Harrison, however, the hopes of the silver 
men revived. The Republicans in their platform in 1888 declared 
in favor of the use of both gold and silver as money, and con- 
demned the efforts made by the Democratic administration to 
injure silver. The silver people therefore felt that the Republican 
party was a silver party. Moreover, they were encouraged by the 
fact that nearly all the senators from the newly admitted States 
were friends of the white metal. Then, too, the popular sentiment 
in the South and Middle West was becoming more and more in- 
sistent in its demands for the free coinage of silver. 1 
whfch Under these propitious circumstances the silver men in Congress 

N e bod d to °k U P ^ e fi° nt ^ or ^ ie restoration of free coinage. In the Senate 
Noth S in ttled ^ ley were success ^ 11 ^ f° r i n that body a free coinage bill was 
passed on June 17, 1890, by a vote of twenty-eight Democrats and 
fifteen Republicans, against three Democrats and twenty-one Re- 
publicans. In the House, however, the friends of free coinage 
encountered the powerful and determined opposition of Speaker 
Reed, and the bill was voted down. But this did not end the 
struggle. The value of silver was declining, and the people of 
the West were clamoring for more money. Congress, said the 
silver men, must come to the rescue by "doing something for 
silver, ' ' so that the mine owner might prosper and the people have 
currency sufficient for the transaction of business. The fight was 
kept up until finally a compromise measure was reached, and the 
so-called Sherman Silver Act was passed on July 14, 1890. This 
repealed the Bland- Allison Act 2 and directed the secretary of the 
treasury to purchase 4,500,000 ounces of silver bullion a month 
and issue in payment therefor United States Treasury notes. The 
notes were to be legal tender for debts, and redeemable in gold or 
silver at the discretion of the secretary of the treasury. In the 
act it was declared that the ' ' established policy of the United States 
is to maintain the two metals on a parity with each other upon 
the present legal ratio [sixteen to one] or such ratio as may be 
provided by law." The act did not go far enough for the silver 
men and it went too far for their opponents. It was a makeshift 
measure designed to prevent a split in the Republican party. 
"Unless we come to an agreement with the silver men," wrote 

1 See p. 554. 

2 See p. 570. 



POLITICS AND LEGISLATION 631 

Senator Orville Piatt, "a free coinage bill will be passed by both ™ap. 
houses by a decided majority. It would probably be vetoed by the — — 
President. The tendency of such action would be to break up the 
Republican party, and worse than that to array the West and 
Southwest against the East. We cannot afford this split if it can 
be avoided." In the interest of party harmony, therefore, the 
Republicans of the East voted for the law, which pleased nobody 
and settled nothing. 

There was another reason why Eastern Republicans were willing The 
to compromise on the silver question: they needed the votes of Tariff ey 
the silver Republicans for a tariff bill which they had under way. 
The Western Republican senators, caring little for the tariff and 
much for silver, said to their Eastern associates, "Do something 
for silver and we will help you on the tariff. ' ' The measure which 
the Republicans wished to carry through was the famous McKinley 
Bill, named for William McKinley of Ohio, the chairman of the 
Ways and Means Committee, and the most aggressive champion of 
the protective system in public life. The proposed law raised the 
duties on a great number of articles and placed duties on many 
articles that had been on the free list. To help in reducing the 
surplus, some commodities were so heavily taxed that they could 
not possibly be imported with profit and could not therefore yield 
any revenue. The duty on sugar was reduced from two cents to 
half a cent a pound. The revenue from sugar amounted to many 
millions of dollars and contributed largely to the swelling of the 
surplus ; hence the reduction on this article. A compensation, 
however, was accorded to domestic producers of sugar by granting 
them a bounty of two cents a pound, a policy which called for 
annual payments of about ten million dollars. Sugar therefore 
provided two convenient spigots for drawing off the embarrassing 
surplus. The rates were especially high on articles of every-day 
use, on cotton and woolen goods, on iron and steel, cutlery, and 
glassware. In order to conciliate the farmers, duties were placed 
on such agricultural products as cereals, potatoes, and flax. The 
bill recognized the principle of reciprocity by authorizing the Presi- 
dent to levy duties by proclamation on sugar, molasses, tea, coffee, 
and hides coming from a country which in his judgment levied 
unjust or unreasonable duties on American commodities. The 
reciprocity feature was introduced in the hope that the principle 
might be applied in our dealings with the countries of South 



632 THE NEW WEST; THE TARIFF AND THE TRUSTS 

£**ap. America. Able lawyers opposed the reciprocity provision on the 
ground that Congress could not delegate the taxing power to the 
President. The friends of reciprocity, however, contended that 
under the act the President was not given legislative power, but 
simply the right to determine when legislation should go into 
effect. Regarded as a whole, the bill was a radical extension of the 
protective principle. It raised the general level of duties from 38 
per cent to approximately 50 per cent. Its framers hoped that it 
would stimulate foreign trade, but Secretary Blaine had no illu- 
sions of that kind. "There is not," he said, "a section or a line 
in the entire bill that will open the market for another bushel of 
wheat or another barrel of pork." The Democrats charged that 
the proposed rates would raise prices, but the friends of protec- 
tion were not afraid of high prices. Said McKinley : "I do not 
prize the word cheap. It is not a word of hope; it is not a word 
of cheer; it is not a word of inspiration. It is the badge of pov- 
erty; it is the signal of distress. . . . Cheap merchandise means 
cheap men, and cheap men mean a cheap country." Democrats 
fought the bill tooth and nail, and there was opposition also in 
the Republican ranks, but party discipline and the Reed rules 
prevailed. Every Republican but one was whipped into line, and 
after five months of debate the McKinley Tariff became a law in 
October, 1890. 
The onward While the McKinley Bill was threading its way through Con- 
the Trusts gress the celebrated Anti-trust Act was passed. This was designed 
to check the onward march of the industrial giants described in 
the last chapter. 1 These were increasing in number all the time 
and were acquiring the strength of economic monsters. The extent 
to which they were monopolizing business in 1890 is told by a 
writer in "The Contemporary Review" in the following graphic 
fashion : 

The American must deal with Trusts all through life. If he 
is a native of New York State a Trust will nurture him with milk. 
. . . When he goes to school his slate is furnished by another Trust, 
which has raised the price of slates 30 per cent. If the American 
boy wants a lead pencil he must apply to a Trust, which charges 
Americans one-and-a-third more for pencils than it asks from 
foreigners. The American boy's candy is indirectly affected by 
the Sugar Trust, and his peanuts are doled out to him through 

1 See pp. 593-599. 



Trusts? 



POLITICS AND LEGISLATION 633 

the medium of the peanut combination. . . . The American may xxx P ' 

continue his progress through life, using " trusted" envelopes, 

wearing "trusted" overshoes, drinking "trusted" whiskey, warm- 
ing himself at "trusted" stoves and patronizing other Trusts, 
which control indispensable commodities. . . . Even death does 
not free the American from Trusts. They pursue him to the grave. 
There is a coffin-makers' ring in New York which has raised prices 
to the Trust standard. There is also a Trust in marble, which has 
increased the price of tombstones. Thus the American citizen who 
is surrounded on all sides with accommodating Trusts through life, 
may be buried in a "trusted" coffin and commemorated in a 
"trusted" tombstone. 

Party platforms had begun to denounce the trusts as early as whatshaii 
1885, but it was not until 1890 that agitation against them com- ^ti/the 
pelled national lawmakers to lay their hands upon them. What 
should be done with them was the most perplexing question that 
had ever come up before the American Congress. In the opinion 
of some of the leaders nothing ought to be done with them; they 
were mere mushroom growths that if let alone would soon pass 
out of existence. This laisser-faire policy was advocated by 
Speaker Reed, who denied that trusts were breeders of monopoly, 
insisting that there was" no such thing as monopoly. The "czar" 
had no patience with anti-trust talk, which he characterized as 
"idiotic raving" and "pestiferous rant." Some persons, believ- 
ing that the trust was only a natural development, a logical and 
inevitable manifestation of industrial conditions, advocated a con- 
trol which "would give society in general some of the benefits 
resulting from the savings and efficiency of combinations." This 
philosophic view, however, since it never advanced beyond specu- 
lation, could bring no satisfaction to the thousands of "small 
fellows," who were being driven out of business by the trusts. 
When these victims of monopolies were told that the trust was an 
evolution, they retorted that there were some evolutions that ought 
to be hung. The Democrats contended that the trusts had been 
built up by the tariff and that the way to destroy them was to 
tear down the protective wall behind which they were sheltered. 
While this argument was plausible, it was by no means flawless, 
for free-trade England at the time was being plastered over by 
trusts. But whether the argument was sound or not, the Republi- 
cans were not going to allow the Democrats to profit politically 



634 THE NEW WEST; THE TARIFF AND THE TRUSTS 

xxx P ' by unloading the trusts upon the back of protection. Determin- 
ing to do something to appease anti-trust sentiment, they prepared 
a bill directed against trusts; but, if we are to believe a Republi- 
can senator, 0. H. Piatt, they did not go about their work in an 
honest, straightforward manner. "The conduct of the Senate," 
says this senator, "for the past three days has not been in the line 
of the honest preparation of a bill to prohibit and punish trusts. 
. . . The question of whether the bill would be operative, of how 
it would operate, or whether it was in the power of Congress to 
enact it, have been whistled down the wind in this Senate as idle 
talk, and the whole effort has been to get some bill headed: 'A Bill 
to Punish Trusts,' with which to go to the country." The measure 
which was finally passed in July, 1890, is known as the Sherman 
Jhe Anti-trust Act, although Senator Sherman was not in a full 

Sherman 7 

Anti-trust sense its author. The most significant provisions of the law are 
Sections 1, 2, and 7, which are as follows : 

Sec. 1. Every contract combination in the form of trust or 
otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among 
the several States, or with foreign nations, is hereby declared to 
be illegal. Every person who shall make any such contract or 
engage in any such combination or conspiracy, shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be pun- 
ished by a fine not exceeding $5,000, or by imprisonment, not 
exceeding one year, or by both said punishments, in the discretion 
of the court. 

Sec. 2. Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to 
monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other such persons 
... to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the 
several states, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of 
misdemeanor and [punished as provided above]. 

Sec. 7. Any person who shall be injured in his business or prop- 
erty by any other person or corporation by reason of anything 
forbidden or declared to be unlawful by this act may sue therefor 
in any circuit court of the United States . . . without respect to 
the amount in controversy, and shall recover threefold the damages 
by him sustained, and the costs of suit, including a reasonable 
attorney's fee. 

An This Anti-trust Act has received a larger share of public atten- 

Ineffective 

statute tion than was ever given to any other Federal statute. The under- 
lying purpose of the law was to break up combinations in restraint 



POLITICS AND LEGISLATION 635 

of trade, destroy monopoly, and give free play to the forces of ^ap. 

competition. Said Senator Hoar, who had a great deal to do with 

the framing of the measure: "The great thing that this bill does 
... is to extend the common-law principles, which protected fair 
competition in England, to international and interstate commerce 
in the United States." If this was truly the hope of the framers 
they were doomed to disappointment ; for, in one way and another, 
the law was circumvented and trusts and combinations continued 
to multiply. Prosecutions under the act were few and far be- 
tween. In the first eleven years of its existence only eighteen cases 
were brought before the courts, and in nearly every case the Gov- 
ernment lost. What with "holding corporations" and "under- 
standings" and "gentlemen's agreements," the trusts generally 
managed to slip through the meshes of the law. We shall hear of 
this celebrated Anti-trust Law again and again, but the story will 
always be the same : so far as the effect of the statute upon com- 
petition was concerned, it might as well not have been spread upon 
the books. 

Although the Anti-trust Act was passed by a non-partisan vote £ T ^° nd 
the Republicans in the congressional elections of 1890 did not hesi- Wave " 
tate to claim it as their child. In those elections, however, it was 
the tariff and not the trusts that engaged the attention of the 
people. In a closing speech against the McKinley Bill the Demo- 
cratic leader Mills had said: "When you leave the House and 
Senate with this enormous load of guilt upon your heads and 
appear before the great tribunal for trial, may the Lord have mercy 
on your souls!" The words were prophetic; the McKinley Tariff 
was visited with a storm of condemnation unprecedented in our 
political history. Although the law bad been in effect only a few 
weeks when the elections were held it had increased prices to such 
an extent that the people were up in arms. The election was a 
second "tidal wave," which swept away the Republican majority 
in the House of Representatives and reduced the Republican 
majority in the Senate from fourteen to six. In the House the 
Democrats elected almost enough members to give them a three 
fourths majority. Democratic gains were made all over the coun- 
try. Even in New England the Democrats gained eleven members, 
while in the Middle West — in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, 
Kansas, Nebraska — the Democratic victory was little less than a 
political revolution. The underlying cause of the defeat was an 



636 THE NEW WEST; THE TAKIFF AND THE TRUSTS 

xxx P ' increase in the cost of living which the people believed was due 

to the McKinley Bill. The following interesting comment on the 

campaign was made by Speaker Reed: 

In hundreds of cases the " drummers" were, intentionally or 
unintentionally, missionaries to preach Democratic doctrine. They 
went all over the country with their stories of advances in prices 
that were to be made next week or next month on account of the 
McKinley Bill. But I am inclined to think that the most impor- 
tant factor in the result of this election was the women of the 
country. It is the women who do the shopping, who keep the run 
of prices, who have the keenest scent for increased cost. They 
heard in every store the clerks behind the counters explain how 
this article or that could not be sold hereafter at the former price 
because of the McKinley Bill ; they went home and told their hus- 
bands and fathers, and their stories had a tremendous effect at the 
ballot-box. 

The Presidential Election of 1892 

Harrison With the House in the complete control of the Democrats, con- 

Renomi- x ' 

nated ditions during the last two years of the Harrison administration 

were unfavorable to legislation. About all the Republicans could 
do was to nurse as best they could the wounds received in 1890 and 
prepare themselves for 1892. President Harrison enjoyed to a 
considerable degree the confidence of the rank and file of his 
party, but his brusque and cold manner caused him to be disliked 
by many powerful leaders. The friends of Blaine were still active 
and would gladly have nominated their old chieftain again; but 
early in 1892 he announced that he was not a candidate. He was 
now an invalid unfit for the race. A few days before the meeting 
of the national Republican convention he resigned from the 
cabinet. This marked the end of his long and brilliant career. 
Sick, disillusioned, and disappointed, he retired to his home in 
Maine, where in a few months he passed away. If he had come 
forward as a candidate for the nomination he would doubtless have 
been defeated; for although there was but little enthusiasm for 
Harrison he was the logical candidate, and politicians turned to 
him as the leader most likely to win. When the Republican con- 
vention met at Minneapolis in June Harrison delegates were suf- 
ficiently numerous to secure control of the organizations and nom- 
inate their man on the first ballot. 



THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1892 637 

For the Democratic nomination there was a lively contest be- °hap. 
tween the followers of ex-President Cleveland and those of David 

_^ _ . . . „ _ Cleveland 

B. Hill, a highly resourceful New York politician of the machine Again the 

. i • • Choice of 

type. Hill began his campaign for delegates with an exhibition of the Demo- 
sharp practice. Causing the New York Democratic convention to 
be assembled at Albany several months in advance of the usual 
time, he secured for himself the Avhole body of delegates to which 
the State was entitled in the national convention. But the Cleve- 
land men refused to recognize Hill's "snap convention," as i% was 
called. They organized a rival "anti-snapper" convention, which 
met at Syracuse and chose contesting delegates. The anti-snappers 
went to Chicago, where the national Democratic convention was 
held, but they failed to secure recognition. As it turned out, their 
votes were not needed. The tide for Cleveland was running so 
strong that his manager at the convention, W. C. Whitney, ex- 
claimed : "I can't keep the votes back. They tumble in at the 
windows as well as at the doors. ' ' The first ballot showed that the 
Hill strength was virtually confined to New York and that Cleve- 
land was easily the choice of the convention and of his party, the 
vote being six hundred and seventeen for the ex-President and one 
hundred and fourteen for Hill. 

Thus the candidates of the two great parties in 1892 were the The issues 
same men who carried the banners in 1888. And the issues of the 
campaign were largely the same. On the subject of silver, the 
question about which the people of the South and West cared 
the most, the platform expressions of both parties were wabbly 
and enshrouded with ambiguity. The Democratic platform, how- 
ever, was clear on one point : it denounced the Sherman Silver Act 
and advocated its repeal. The central issue of the campaign was 
the tariff. The Republicans, adhering firmly to the doctrine of 
protection, declared that on all imports coming into competition 
with the products of American labor there should be levied duties 
equal to the difference between wages abroad and at home. The 
Democrats, asserting that Republican protection was a robbery 
of the great majority of the people for the benefit of the few, 
declared it to be a fundamental principle of their party that the 
Federal Government has no constitutional power to impose and 
collect tariff duties except for purposes of revenue only. This 
harsh and extreme attack upon the principle of protection, how- 
ever, was softened by Cleveland in his letter of acceptance, in 



638 THE NEW WEST; THE TARIFF AND THE TRUSTS 
chap. which he stated that no war of extermination would be waged 



xxx 



against any American interest. 



The i n this campaign a third party had to be reckoned with. This 

Populists 

was the People's party — Populists they were generally called, — 
which was gathering to itself the discontented and radical elements 
of the West. In the congressional election of 1890 the new party 
elected nine representatives and two senators. In 1892 the Popu- 
list party, coming forward as a national political organization, 
held a convention at Omaha and nominated James B. Weaver of 
Iowa for President. The platform which they adopted declared 
for the free and unlimited coinage of silver, a per capita currency 
of not less than fifty dollars, 1 a graduated income tax, a system 
of postal savings-banks, and the governmental ownership of rail- 
roads, telegraphs, and telephones. As expressive of the opinion 
of the party the committee on resolutions submitted a report 
favoring the Australian or secret ballot system, the restriction of 
undesirable immigration, the shortening of the hours of labor, the 
initiative and referendum, and the election of United States sena- 
tors by popular vote. General conditions as seen through Populist 
spectacles were portrayed in the following w 7 ords : 

We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, 
political, and material ruin. Corruption dominates the ballot-box, 
the legislature, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the 
bench. The people are demoralized; most of the States have been 
compelled to isolate the voters at the polling-places to prevent 
universal intimidation or bribery. The newspapers are largely 
subsidized or muzzled ; public opinion silenced ; business pros- 
trated; our homes covered with mortgages; labor impoverished; 
and the land concentrating in the hands of the capitalists. The 
urban workmen are denied the right of organization for self- 
protection; imported pauperized labor beats down their wages; a 
hireling standing army, unrecognized by our laws, is established 
to shoot them down, and they are rapidly degenerating into Euro- 
pean conditions. The fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen 
to build up colossal fortunes for a few, unprecedented in the his- 
tory of mankind; and the possessors of these, in turn, despise the 
republic and endanger liberty. From the same prolific womb of 
governmental injustice we breed the two great classes of tramps 
and millionaires. 

1 In 1920 tho por capita currency was considerably above the figure proposed 
by the Populists. 



THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1892 639 

In conservative circles this pessimistic utterance was charac- chap. 
terized as ridiculous piffle, yet everybody knew that there was a — — 
deal of truth in what the Populists said. As for the new party 
itself, the politicians affected to despise it and belittle its strength ; 
yet as a matter of fact its influence in the canvass was felt and 
feared. Its straightforward declaration in favor of the free coin- 
age of silver aroused apprehension on the part of both Republicans 
and Democrats. Not since the days of the Know-nothings 1 had a 
third party made such a powerful appeal to the voters. 

The campaign of 1892 was what would now be called a "pussy- A « Puss 
foot" affair. It was a skilfully conducted still-hunt for votes. No £? ot " 

" Campaign 

scandals were unearthed and no sensational episodes occurred. 
Neither Harrison nor Cleveland appealed very powerfully in a 
personal way to the popular imagination and both men failed to 
receive the warm-hearted, enthusiastic support of the practical 
politicians. It is said Robert G. Ingersoll declared that each 
party would like to beat the other without electing its own candi- 
date. The tariff was freely discussed on the hustings, but both 
sides were careful not to press their contentions too hard. Re- 
publican oratory could hardly wax eloquent when speaking of the 
McKinley Bill, while the Democrats could not emphasize the reve- 
nue principle when their leader had promised the country that 
protective duties would be tolerated. The silver issue, as if by 
the tacit assent of both sides, was kept in the background, and 
nothing was heard of it except in those States where the movement 
for free coinage was strong. In such States fusions were made in 
several cases between the Democrats and the Populists. 

During the campaign period many things operated to injure the Badomens 

for the 

chances of the Republicans. The farmers were in a bad plight; Republicans 
large numbers of workmen were out of employment; the security 
market was in a panicky condition ; wages in many places were 
being reduced ; and there were big and disastrous strikes. All this 
was of bad omen to the party in power. In July there occurred a 
labor disturbance, the consequence of which brought positive harm 
to the Republican ticket. The scene of the trouble was at Home- 
stead, a suburb of Pittsburgh, where the Amalgamated Iron and 
Steel Workers, the strongest of trade-unions, came into conflict 
with the strongest of manufacturing corporations, the Carnegie 
Steel Co. Failing to come to an agreement with their employers 
1 See p. 398. 



640 THE NEW WEST; THE TARIFF AND THE TRUSTS 



CHAP. 
XXX 



A 

Surprising 1 
Victory 



The 

Politicians 

Puzzled 



on the subject of wages, the men quit work. The issue upon which 
the strike was called involved not only a question of wages but 
also the question of the union's dissolution, for H. C. Prick, the 
manager of the Carnegie company, being a bitter opponent of or- 
ganized labor, desired the destruction of the union. Even before 
the strike had been ordered Frick had arranged with the Pinkerton 
agency for three hundred detectives to guard the property of the 
company. The working-men, who had been warned that the Pink- 
erton men were coming, armed themselves with guns, and, when the 
detectives arrived, gave them a pitched battle. When the fighting 
was over about half a dozen men on both sides had been killed, and 
a number seriously wounded. The news went out that Pinkerton 
men had been hired to shoot down working-men, with the result 
that passion among laboring men ran high in all parts of the 
country and that many a working-man's vote was given to the 
Democrats simply to rebuke the Republicans. 

As the campaign drew to a close it seemed upon the whole that 
the Democratic chances were good, although everybody thought 
the election would be close. It turned out that the Democrats won 
a victory that astonished even themselves. Cleveland, besides re- 
ceiving the votes of the solid South, was successful in all the 
doubtful States — Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, West Vir- 
ginia, and New York — and, to the amazement of the country, even 
carried the rock-ribbed Republican States of Illinois, Wisconsin, 
and California. Moreover, he obtained one vote each from North 
Dakota and Ohio, and five from Michigan. His total electoral 
vote was 277 against 145 for Harrison and twenty-two for Weaver. 
The popular vote for Cleveland was 5,556,543; for Harrison, 
5,175,582 ; for Weaver, 1,040,886. 

Fully as surprising as the Democratic vote was that which 
was cast for the Populist ticket. General Weaver carried four 
States outright — Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, and Nevada — and re- 
ceived one vote in North Dakota and one in Oregon. This startled 
the leaders of the two old parties. Not that they were afraid 
that the new party might march on to victory. To organize a third 
party and carry it to complete victory is a task that has not been 
accomplished once in our history. We have had many third parties, 
but the history of them all is the same : they have all been absorbed 
by the older parties. Which of the two great parties would absorb 
the Populist party, with its free silver notions? This was the 



CHRONOLOGY 641 

question that began to puzzle the politicians as soon as they learned xxx P ' 
that a million votes were cast for the Populist candidate. 



NOTES AND CHRONOLOGY 

[This matter is indexed. It does not include dates given or subjects treated 
in the main body of the text.] 

1886 Geronimo and his band of Apache Indians surrender to General Miles. 
Bartholdi's statue of "Liberty Enlightening the World" (a gift from 

France) is unveiled in New York Harbor. 
Charleston, South Carolina, is shattered by an earthquake. 

1887 The Tenure of Office Act is repealed, leaving the President the power 

to remove officers without the consent of the Senate. 

1888 A great blizzard in the Eastern States causes a great number of lives 

to be lost and holds New York City in snowdrifts for several days. 

The Australian Ballot. (A method of voting which was called the Aus- 
tralian ballot system and which requires the casting of the ballot 
in secret. It was adopted in Massachusetts in 1888, and by the 
other States in rapid succession until the system became almost 
universal throughout the United States. 

Lord Sackville, the British minister, is dismissed on account of an indis- 
creet letter touching upon American politics. 

The Mormon Church declares against the practice of polygamy. 

1889 The Federal Department of Agriculture is established. 

A flood caused by the breaking of a dam at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 

destroys the lives of more than 2,000 people. 
The Catholic University of America is opened at Washington. 
The Socialist Labor party is organized. 

1890 The Anti-saloon League is founded. 

The Ocala platform is adopted by the National Farmers' Alliance at 
Ocala, Florida. (The principles declared in this platform were 
adopted by the Populists.) 

Woman's Christian Temperance Union is organized. 

The new Croton aqueduct is completed. 

1891 The international copyright law is enacted, extending the privilege of 

American copyright to authors in such foreign countries as grant 
the same privilege to American authors. 

1892 The Bering Sea Arbitration treaty ratified. 

Provisions and money sent for the relief of starving peasants in Russia. 

The Geary Chinese Exclusion Bill enacted. 

The Navigation Laws of the United States suspended so as to admit 

the steamers City of Paris and City of New York to American 

registry. 

Suggested Readings 

The Far West : Sparks, pp. 251-264. 

The second Harrison : Haworth, pp. 184-205 ; Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 457-485. 

The New West : Haworth, pp. 341-350. 

The trend of diplomacy : Lingley, pp. 281-302. 

Cleveland's second election : Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 486-518. 

The Tariff Act of 1890 : Taussig, pp. 251-283. 



XXXI 

A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 

THE four years which cover the second term of Grover Cleve- 
land," says Stanwood, "may be characterized as the most 
momentous period in a time of peace, in the history of the country, 
and as the most interesting, from a political point of view, in either 
war or peace. ... It was a time full of surprises, the last and 
greatest of which was the sudden rise, to an issue of overwhelming 
importance and interest, of a question that had troubled the peace 
of American politicians for twenty years, but had previously been 
dallied with and avoided, never met squarely and with courage." * 

The World's Columbian Exposition 

The world's President Cleveland began his duties for the second time by 
Expedition delivering his inaugural address in a driving storm of sleet and rain 
which symbolized fittingly the turbulent conditions which, as he 
could see all too plainly, were prevailing in the world of men and 
things around him. Although he saw breakers ahead he could 
nevertheless, with his countrymen, forget for a moment the trouble:; 
of the nation and view with pride and satisfaction the wonders of 
the World's Columbian Exposition which he was called upon to 
open soon after his inauguration. This exposition was held at 
Chicago, its purpose being to commemorate the four hundredth 
anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. 
It was officially opened in October, 1892, but visitors were not ad- 
mitted until May, 1893. 

When the President touched an electric button, the ponderous 
machinery started in its revolutions and the activities of the expo- 
sition began. Fountains began to play, chimes began to ring, 
curtains in front of the platforms parted to show models of the 
three boats of Columbus, the flags of many nations were unfurled, 
cannons boomed, bands played, and the people cheered wildly. 
1 Edward Stanwood, "A History of the Presidency" ; Vol. I, p. 519. 

642 



CHAP. 



A HARD BLOW AT SILVER 643 

The cheers could hardly have beeen suppressed, for the exposition 
was the most magnificent the world had yet seen. Its buildings 
occupied 660 acres of ground, the largest structure, the one devoted 
to manufactures and the liberal arts, covering twenty-five acres. 
The location of the fair was on the border of Lake Michigan, where 
a stretch of ugly swamp land was by the hands of great artists 
transmuted into a "shimmering dream of loveliness." 

The people of the United States were justly proud of the many 
triumphs of the exposition, but the exhibits of foreign countries 
were of such surpassing excellence that they had the effect of bring- 
ing home to the minds of reflecting citizens the truth that America 
was not the only land of progress. Indeed the achievements of the 
Old World as revealed at the exposition were in not a few instances 
so striking as to cause American achievement to suffer when a 
comparison was instituted. So far was this true that an American 
visitor commenting on the exposition was constrained to say : 

The fair will have been of immense value to us if as a mere inci- 
dent of it we learn — what it is easy to forget — that while we make 
progress other nations are making progress also, and that we can 
as little afford to neglect their achievements as they can afford 
to neglect ours. . . . Europe is producing the Pasteurs and Kochs, 
and is leading us in about every field of thought that involves 
revolutionary methods and perfect daring. In the whole realm of 
ideas there is a fine ferment in Europe compared with which our 
thinking seems dull and stagnant. . . . The large exhibitions from 
England, France, Germany and other European states will teach 
us how very modern and progressive those so-called "effete" coun- 
tries are, and what a splendid and determined vitality they possess. 

A Hard Blow at Silver 

When the President turned from the glories of the exposition The 

to take up his tasks at Washington he found himself confronted by 

a burden that only a strong back could bear. But he was not 

compelled to toil alone as in his first administration. He could go 

about his work feeling that Congress was on his side, for the 

Democrats had a clear majority in both the Senate and the House. 

He could rely, too, upon the perfect loyalty of his cabinet, 1 since it 

1 The members of this cabinet were : W. Q. Gresham of Illinois, secretary of 
state ; P. G. Carlisle of Kentucky, secretary of the treasury ; D. S. Lamont of 
New York, secretary of war ; Richard Olney of Massachusetts, attorney- 



644 A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 

\xxf' was composed of men whom he really wanted, not one of them 

having been forced upon him by the exigencies of party. Yet 

despite this solid support the President himself felt it was more 
than likely that his administration would end in disaster, so for- 
midable were the dangers with which it was encircled. 
Difficulties ^ ne fi rs * serious matter with which the new President had to deal 
was a deplorable condition of the National Treasury. In the first 
place, the Government could hardly meet its current expenses. The 
splendid surplus 1 which Cleveland had bequeathed to Harrison in 
1889 had by 1893 been transformed into a deficit, thanks to the 
lavish expenditures authorized by the "Billion-dollar Congress" 
and to a big drop in customs revenues occasioned by the McKinley 
Act. In the second place the whole currency system was out of 
joint. It will be remembered that when specie payments were 
resumed in 1879 there was set aside about $100,000,000 in gold for 
the redemption of the outstanding United States notes (green- 
backs), the amount of which was about $346,000,000. 2 It will also 
be recalled that the treasury notes issued under the Sherman law 
of 1890 were made redeemable either in gold or in silver, as the 
secretary of the treasury might decide. 3 At the beginning of 
Cleveland's second term the treasury notes issued under the law 
of 1890 amounted to nearly $150,000,000, and the amount was 
increasing all the time. Here was about $500,000,000 of current 
money, greenbacks and treasury notes together, redeemable under 
the law in gold, if holders should ask for gold, while the gold 
reserve available for redemption purposes amounted to only $100,- 
000,000. It is true, the redemption might lawfully have been made 
in silver, but the secretary of the treasury, whether under Harrison 
or Cleveland, chose to redeem both greenbacks and treasury notes 
in gold, considering that a refusal to do so would mean the adoption 
of a silver basis. Under both Presidents the demands for redemp- 
tion in gold was insistent. Even before the end of Harrison 's term 
the gold reserve was crumbling away, owing largely to the fact 
that legal-tender notes were being presented at the Treasury for 
redemption. In one way and another, however, the Harrison 

general ; W. S. Bissell of New York, postmaster-general ; H. A. Herbert of 
Alabama, secretary of the navy ; Hoke Smith of Georgia, secretary of the 
interior ; J. S. Morton of Nebraska, secretary of agriculture. 

1 See p. 555. 

2 See p. 553. 

3 See p. G30. 



A HARD BLOW AT SILVER 645 

administration ''paddled along" and managed to escape the charge ™|f - 

that the Treasury was bankrupt, although preparations were 

actually made for the issuance of bonds to secure gold for the 
reserve. 

After Cleveland took his place at the head of affairs in the ££*, 

x "Endless 

spring of 1893 the drain upon the gold reserve became rapidly Chain " 
heavier. There were many reasons why holders of greenbacks and 
treasury notes should want them redeemed in gold. A great in- 
crease in the production of silver was lowering its price ; many 
governments, particularly that of British India, were discontinuing 
their purchases of silver; foreign investors were selling American 
securities and demanding gold in payment ; the business men of the 
East were discrediting silver as a circulating medium. Accord- 
ingly treasury notes and greenbacks were brought in great bundles 
to the Treasury, and gold was carried away. But the legal-tender 
notes were not impounded ; they were paid out over the counters of 
the Treasury and were soon in circulation again, only to be col- 
lected and presented again for redemption. Thus the process 
resembled the working of an "endless chain." "But these obli- 
gations," said Cleveland in a message, "when received and re- 
deemed in gold are not cancelled, but are reissued and may do duty 
many times by way of drawing gold from the Treasury. Thus we 
have an endless chain in operation, constantly depleting the Treas- 
ury's gold and never near a final rest." There was one way of 
bringing the endless chain to a rest : the secretary of the treasury 
under the law could redeem the notes in silver instead of gold. 
But in the opinion of the President this would have destroyed the 
parity between the two metals, and he was determined that the 
parity should be maintained. This, he contended, could only be 
done by redeeming in gold when gold was asked for. 

The President 's remedy for the drain upon the Treasury was to The 
repeal the purchasing clause of the Sherman Silver Law of 1890 c ]Vf ae 
and thus discontinue the issuance of the treasury notes. Accord- Sherman 

* Silver Law 

ingly he called Congress together in special session in August, 1893, Repealed 
and earnestly recommended the immediate repeal of the provisions 
of the act of 1890 authorizing the purchase of the bullion. In the 
House the cause of silver found an ardent champion in William 
Jennings Bryan, a young member from Nebraska. In a speech 
that attracted the attention of the country Bryan stated the argu- 
ments of the free silver party. As for the proposed repeal, he 



046 



A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 



CHAP. 



The 

"Endless 
( 'liain" 
Continues 
to Move 



denied that it would bring the endless chain to rest, asserting that 
it could still be kept in motion by the greenbacks. "We have 
$346,000,000 worth of greenbacks," he said, "with which gold can 
be drawn so long as the Government gives the option to the holder. 
If all the treasury notes were destroyed, the greenbacks are suffi- 
cient to draw out the $100,000,000 reserve three times over, and 
then they can be reissued and used again. To complain of the 
treasury notes while the greenbacks remain, is like finding fault 
because the gate is open when the whole fence is down." But 
opposition was in vain. In the House repeal was promptly agreed 
to by a vote of 239 to 109. In the Senate, where silver was stronger, 
the bill was delayed by obstructive tactics. The claims of silver 
were rehearsed in relays: Senator Jones of Nevada made a speech 
that filled a hundred pages of ' ' The Congressional Record ' ' ; and 
Senator Allen of Nebraska spoke for fifteen hours. But the ob- 
structionists were at last compelled to surrender. On October 30 
the bill reached a vote and was passed, twenty-two Democrats and 
twenty-six Republicans voting for it, and twenty-two Democrats, 
twelve Republicans, and three Populists voting against it. The vote 
showed that on the silver question the two great parties beyond all 
doubt were split wide open. 

With the repeal of the Silver-purchase Act, business men in the 
East breathed a sigh of relief. They said "that the advocates of 
free silver had had their Waterloo and that they were now going 
to their St. Helena." But talk of this kind was premature. The 
repeal did not bring the endless chain to rest. On the contrary 
that machine continued in motion, and the gold reserve fell lower 
and lower. By the middle of January, 1894, — less than three 
months after the repeal — the gold reserve was less than $70,000,000. 
Here indeed was a crisis. If the Government should cease to pay 
gold on demand for greenbacks and treasury notes the financiers 
would regard it as bankrupt, as being in the condition of a bank 
unable to redeem its notes, or of an individual unable to meet his 
obligations. The silver men, it is true, did not take this view of 
the situation. They contended that if the secretary of the treasury 
would only allow silver to share with gold the burden of redemption 
all would be well. But the President was with the business men, 
and he determined that the reserve should be replenished. The 
secretary of the treasury, using power which he possessed under 
existing law — for Congress refused to give him any new power for 



A HARD BLOW AT SILVER 647 

dealing with the situation,— began to sell bonds — that is, to borrow j§xi - 

money — in order to secure gold enough to bring the reserve up to 

the $100,000,000 mark. But the secretary was pursuing an ignis 
fatuus. In order to get the gold to pay for the bonds the subscribers 
withdrew it from the Treasury by the presentation of legal-tender 
notes. There were two sales of bonds but no good results followed ; 
the more gold the Treasury borrowed the lower the reserve fell. 
By February, 1895, although about $117,000,000 of gold had been 
borrowed, the gold reserve was only $41,000,000. 

In desperation Cleveland now called J. P. Morgan to the White £n 

° Unpopular 

House and after conferring with that great financier entered into contract 

° _ with the 

an agreement with the banking houses of Morgan, Belmont, and Bankers 
Rothschild for the purchase of 3,500,000 ounces of gold to be paid 
for in United States bonds, which were to be delivered at a price 
considerably lower than the current market price and were to bear 
interest at 4 per cent. As a part of the arrangement the bankers 
agreed to use their influence to protect the Treasury from further 
withdrawals of gold. When the nature of the transaction became 
known to the public the indignation which arose was nation wide. 
Even in the East there was a storm of criticism. In the opinion of 
' ' The New York World ' ' the profit of the bankers ' ' was not earned 
by any service or by taking any risk. It was gratuitously given to 
the syndicate by the Administration in a secret conference and will 
be paid out of the public Treasury. Is there any term but 'bunco' 
with which to describe the transaction?" Said "The Springfield 
Republican " : " There cannot be the slightest doubt . . . that the 
Government, had it invited competirg bids for the new issue, could 
have sold the loan on nearly a three per cent basis." In Congress 
the silverites, regarding the deal as a surrender to Wall Street, 
denounced it in the bitterest terms. "What is this contract?" 
asked Bryan. "It is a contract made by the executive of a great 
nation with the representatives of foreign money loaners. ... It 
provides for the private sale of coin bonds running thirty years at 
1041/2 which ought to be worth 119 in the open market. 1 What 
defense can be made for this gift of something like seven and a half 
million dollars to a bond syndicate ? ' ' Attacking the doctrine that 
redemption should be made in gold and gold alone, Bryan declared 
that there would be further issues of bonds and that the leak in the 

*The bonds were sold by the bankers at 118, and they yielded a profit to the 
syndicate of about $7,000,000. 



648 



A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 



CHAP. 
XXXI 



Treasury would not be stopped. As a matter of fact there was one 
more issue of bonds. The Morgan-Belmont arrangement brought 
relief to the Treasury for about ten months ; then the endless chain 
began to work again, and quickly the Government was in such a 
bad financial plight that in January, 1896, a loan had to be resorted 
to. This time the sale of bonds was thrown open to the public with 
the most gratifying results. A call was made for $100,000,000 and 
response came from more than 4500 subscribers, whose bids covered 
the sum asked for many times over. The bonds sold at about 111, 
against the 1041^ paid by the Morgan people. The rate of interest 
borne by the new loan was 3.4 per cent. By the time the borrowed 
money began to be available for the Treasury the gold reserve had 
fallen below $45,000,000. In spite of the replenishment the reserve 
again began to fall, and by July, 1896, it was about $90,000,000. 
But it was allowed to fall no further. As a Presidential campaign 
was now in full swing, financiers were seized with a fear that a new 
bond issue might have the effect of strengthening the claims of the 
silver advocates. Accordingly the bankers combined to support 
the reserve by paying out gold in exchange for notes, instead of 
presenting notes to the Treasury to be exchanged for gold. The 
plan succeeded; the reserve fell no further, the endless chain came 
to rest, and the gold standard was henceforth maintained. The 
bonds issued to maintain it amounted altogether to $262,000,000. 



The Panic of 1893 ; Popular Unrest 



a 

Disastrous 
Panic 



While President Cleveland was struggling to secure the repeal of 
the Sherman Silver Law and moving heaven and earth to maintain 
the gold standard, the country was passing through a period of 
hard times known as the Panic of 1893. We have seen that in the 
autumn of 1892 conditions in the financial world were bad. 1 They 
continued to grow worse, and by the middle of 1893 the country 
was experiencing the most disastrous panic of its history. In 
December the comptroller of the currency announced the failure 
during the year of 158 national banks, 172 State banks, 177 private 
banks, forty-seven savings-banks, thirteen loan and trust companies, 
and six mortgage companies. Most of the failures were in the 
South and West where finances were in such a state of collapse that 
general bankruptcy was threatened. Money was so hard to get 

»Sce p. 639. 




<^§^.^ <^~~^ 



THE PANIC OF 1893 ; POPULAR UNREST 649 

that a premium was offered for currency of almost any kind — gold, xxxF' 

silver, treasury notes, greenbacks, anything with which to settle the 

next day's obligations. Holders of money hoarded it instead of 
depositing it in the banks, with the result that deposits in the 
national banks alone shrank nearly half a billion dollars in the 
single month of October. In some places currency was so scarce 
that the primitive methods of barter were brought into use. In the 
cities depositors who presented checks at banks, instead of receiving 
cash, were given clearing-house certificates. In some of the South- 
ern cities certificates of this kind were issued for general circula- 
tion. The chaos in monetary affairs led to a breakdown on the 
stock market, which affected nearly every class of securities. 
American Sugar fell from 111 to 61 ; National Cordage from 138 
to 7 ; Union Pacific from 39 to 15 ; Northern Pacific from 47 to 15. 
As the fluctuations grew in violence a wider and wider circle of 
speculative operations was drawn into the gambling whirlpool. 

What brought on the crisis of 1893 is not easy to say, for one The cause 
exclaims, "Lo, it is here!" and another, "Lo, it is there!" Bi- panic 
metallists were sure the depression was due to the war which the 
Government was waging against silver. Monometallists were sure 
that it was due to a fear that the silverites would succeed in driving 
gold out of circulation. W. Jett Lauck, whose scholarly book, 
"The Causes of the Panic of 1893," won for the author a handsome 
prize, tells us that the crisis was directly and wholly attributable 
to a widespread fear both at home and abroad that the United 
States would not be able to maintain a gold standard of payments. 
This was virtually the view taken by Cleveland. The unfortunate 
financial plight of the country, he said, was not the result of 
untoward events, nor was it traceable to any of the afflictions which 
frequently check national growth and prosperity ; it was chargeable 
principally to a law of Congress, the Sherman Silver Law of 1890, 
the workings of which threatened the existence of the gold stand- 
ard. Among Republican politicians there was a disposition to 
ascribe the panic to a popular dread of Democratic rule and the 
enactment of free-trade legislation. Representative Grosvenor of 
Ohio, drawing a picture of conditions after the election of 1892, 
said: 

One by one the furnaces went out. One by one the mines closed 
up. One after another the factories shortened their time. Why 
did they do this? Was it a mere senseless stampede? Was it a 



650 A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 

xxxf' Wal1 Street panic? Was it an unintelligent curtailment of the 

business of the country? I say not. Where is there an intelligent 

man to-day, if he were a manufacturer, with the threat of the 
Democratic party in power . . . and confiding as human nature 
does in the belief that a great political party will do as it says . . . 
what one of you at the head of an industrial institution would carry 
on your business? 

™thf ffects Although the political doctors differed widely about the cause 
Panic f the panic there could be no difference of opinion as to its effects. 

Its blighting influence was felt in every section of the country, and 
in its train there followed a period of hard times that lasted for 
nearly three years. The rich as well as the poor were reached by 
the depression. In the cities hundreds of thousands found them- 
selves without employment. Never before in the history of the 
United States had there been such a large number of men out of 
work. In the West farmers, unable to sell their crops at any price, 
were sometimes forced to burn as fuel the grain which they had 
raised at great expense and with much toil. There were districts 
where farmers could not so much as buy clothes for their backs and 
went clad in the sacks into which they were accustomed to put 
their grain, their feet wrapped about with rags which took the place 
of shoes. 
A?m/' s The hard times were accompanied, of course, with a vast amount 

of unrest and lawlessness. People who are cold and hungry do not 
remain quiet and peaceful. In the spring of 1894 many little 
"armies of the unemployed" were organized in different parts of 
the country with the view of marching to Washington and making 
known their wants to Congress. The most spectacular of these 
"armies" was the one led by J. S. Coxey, who started from 
Massillon, Ohio, for Washington with about a hundred men. 
Coxey had a plan for the improvement of roads throughout the 
country, the expense to be met by an issue of $500,000,000 in 
greenbacks. The object of his scheme was (1) to give work to the 
unemployed; (2) to give the nation a good system of highways; 
and (3) to give the people more money for the transaction of 
business. On May 1 Coxey with a handful of men arrived in 
Washington. Marching to the Capitol, where he expected to make 
a demonstration, he was arrested for "trespassing on the grass" 
of the Capitol lawn. His army of a few dozen men now dwindled 



THE PANIC OF 1893; POPULAR UNREST 651 

away, and thus the movement, so far as practical results were ^£- 
concerned, came to naught. ■ 



More serious than the marching "armies" were the strikes which The 

° Pullman 

occurred during this time. In 1894 more men quit their jobs than strik e 
in any preceding year of our history. In the bituminous coal 
fields 125,000 men threw down their picks. The most formidable 
of the strikes was in Chicago where in May, 1894, the employees 
of the Pullman Palace Car Co. struck against a reduction of wages. 
Under the leadership of Eugene V. Debs, the president of the 
American Railway Union — an organization numbering 150,000 
men, — the railroad workers voted to stop "handling Pullman cars 
unless the Pullman company should consent to arbitration. The 
mayors of more than fifty cities urged the company to submit to 
arbitration, but its steadfast reply was, "The company has nothing 
to arbitrate." On June 26, therefore, the railway men struck in 
sympathy with the Pullman men. Once begun, the strike assumed 
greater and greater proportions, and it was not long before railway 
transportation west of Ohio was paralyzed. The strike extended to 
the railroads of twenty-seven States. In Chicago, the center of 
the disturbance, mobs gathered in the freight yards and hundreds 
of cars were burned. Violence as a policy, however, was disavowed 
by the strikers. "I appeal to the strikers everywhere," said Debs 
on June 29, "to refrain from any acts of violence. ... A man who 
will destroy property or violate law is an enemy and not a friend 
to the cause of labor." Still, property was destroyed, and at first 
little was done to protect it. The governor of Illinois, John P. 
Altgeld, who was in full sympathy with the strikers, delayed call- 
ing out the militia. The matter was, however, taken out of the 
governor's hands by the President, who, when he was informed 
that the movement of mails was being obstructed, ordered United 
States troops to the scene of the disturbance. Altgeld protested 
against the sending of the Federal troops on the ground that 
Illinois was able to take care of itself, and on the further ground 
that the President had no constitutional right to send soldiers of 
the regular army into a State except on the application of the 
legislature or the governor. But the President gave little heed to 
this protest. He persisted in sending the troops, declaring, it was 
reported, that if it took every dollar in the Treasury and every 
soldier in the United States army to deliver a postal-card in Chi- 



652 



A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 



Catching 
Game for 
Which the 
Trap Was 
Not Set 



The Merits 
of the 
Dispute 



cago that postal-card should be delivered. Soon after the arrival 
of the regular troops the rioting ceased and the strike came to 
an end. 

While the strike was in progress a judge of the United States 
district court of Illinois issued a "blanket injunction" ordering 
the officials and members of the American Railway Union to desist 
from interference in any manner with the business of the rail- 
roads. Debs as president of the union continued to direct the 
strike, with the result that on July 7 he was arrested for contempt 
of the order of the court and imprisoned. On December 14 he 
was found guilty of contempt of court as well as of conspiracy 
under Section 2 of the Sherman Anti-trust Law. 1 Although this 
law had been framed with the view of checking the power of the 
trusts, it was made to do service in restricting the power of labor- 
unions, and thus to catch game for which the trap was not set. 
The sentence imposed by the court was six months' imprisonment. 
The case was taken to the Federal Supreme Court where the action 
of the lower court was upheld. 

For a judge to use the injunction to punish a person for vio- 
lating a law was a surprising extension of the judicial power. The 
spirit and practice of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence had always been 
to give an accused person the right of a trial by jury. The punish- 
ment of Debs received the hearty approval of most conservatives, 
although to many old-fashioned minds the procedure in his case 
seemed to be unjust. "This action of the judicial power," said 
"The Springfield Republican," "cannot go without rebuke. . . . 
If Debs has been violating the law let him be indicted, tried by a 
jury, and punished. Let him not be made the victim of an un- 
tenable court order and deprived of his liberty entirely within the 
discretion of a judge. ... If the precedent now established is to 
stand, there is no limit to the power which the judiciary may estab- 
lish over the citizen." 

In the Pullman disturbance capital and labor were squarely 
pitted against each other and capital came out with flying colors; 
the strike failed completely and its leaders were confounded and 
suppressed. But what were the merits of the dispute? In order 
to get an answer to this question President Cleveland in July, 1894, 
appointed a commission to investigate the nature and causes of the 
Pullman trouble. In its report the commission spoke of the 

J See p. G34. 



HAWAII; VENEZUELA 653 

Managers Association — the railroad organization opposed to the xxxi 

strikers — as "an illustration of the persistent and shrewdly devised 

plans of corporations to overreach their limitations and to usurp 
indirectly powers and rights not contemplated in their charters 
and not obtainable from the people or their legislatures." Other 
important findings of the commission have been summarized as 
follows : 

The Pullman Company, while providing a beautiful town for 
its employees, charged rents twenty to twenty-five per cent, higher 
than were charged in surrounding towns for similar accommoda- 
tions, and the men felt a compulsion to reside in the houses if they 
wished to retain their positions; when wages were reduced, the 
salaries of the better paid officers were untouched, so that the 
burden of the hard times was placed on the poorest paid em- 
ployees; there was no violence or destruction of property in Pull- 
man, and much of the rowdyism in Chicago, but not all of it, was 
due to the lawless adventurers and professional criminals who 
filled the city at that time; when various public officials and 
organizations attempted to get the Company to arbitrate the dis- 
pute, the uniform reply was that the points at issue were matters 
of fact and hence not proper subjects for arbitration ; and the 
Managers' Association selected, armed, and paid 3,600 federal 
deputy marshals who acted both as railroad employees and as 
United States officers, under the direction of the Managers. 1 

Hawaii; Venezuela 
When the President turned from the ferment at home to foreign The 

/v> • i r> -i • • i i ni4 Hawaiian 

aftairs he found a situation that was by no means peaceful. At Question 
the very beginning of his second term he was confronted by the 
Hawaiian question. The interest of our Government in the mid- 
Pacific group known as the Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands dates 
from the middle of the eighteenth century when Webster, as 
secretary of state, had occasion to announce officially in 1851 that 
the United States would never consent to see these islands taken 
over by any of the great powers of Europe, and that unjust de- 
mands must not be enforced against the Hawaiian Government. 
The position thus assumed toward the islands was a virtual 
protectorate on the part of the United States. From time to time 
there was talk of our annexing Hawaii. Marcy and Seward and 
1 C. R. Lingley, "Since the Civil War" ; p. 323. 



654 A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 

^JxF" Blaine were all for annexation. As early as 1881 Blaine was 

contemplating taking possession of the islands, and when he came 

back into office under Harrison the matter wore a more serious 
aspect than ever. In 1891 the Hawaiian monarch, King Kalakaua, 
died and was succeeded by his sister Liliuokalani, a woman of 
much spirit but of an autocratic disposition. Just before her 
accession to the throne the Hawaiian people had succeeded in 
securing a constitutional government. This was brushed aside by 
the new queen, who preferred to rule as a despot. A revolution 
followed, and a provisional government under the leadership of 
S. B. Dole, an American by descent, was set up. Dole asked J. L. 
Stevens, the American minister at Honolulu, for help, and it was 
given ; a force of United States marines went ashore and served as 
a prop to the new government. Stevens sent home a despatch say- 
ing, ' ' The pear is now fully ripe and this is the golden hour for the 
United States to pluck it. ' ' President Harrison, who was in favor 
of plucking the pear, caused a treaty of annexation to be drawn up 
and presented it to the Senate, but before action was taken his 
term came to an end. The Hawaiian question, therefore, was 
handed on to the Cleveland administration. 
The united Cleveland was willing that the Hawaiian pear should hang on its 

States Half- ° . ° 

way Across twig a little longer. Withdrawing the treatv from the Senate for 

the Pacific . 

examination, he sent James H. Blount out to Hawaii to make 
investigation touching all our relations with the islands. Although 
Blount was given "paramount" authority, his official status was 
a matter of doubt ; for the President had commissioned him without 
obtaining the Senate's ratification of his appointment. Official 
nondescript though he might be, he used his "paramountcy" with- 
out reserve. He ordered the American flag lowered from the gov- 
ernment buildings in Honolulu, and he made the marines go back 
to their ships. He reported to Cleveland that the greater part of 
the natives were in favor of the ex-queen and that the revolution 
had succeeded through the support of the United States minister 
and the marines. Upon receiving this information Cleveland de- 
cided that it was his duty to restore the queen to her throne. In 
accordance with instructions, the newly appointed minister to 
Hawaii, having with much difficulty secured from the queen a 
promise that she would grant full amnesty to all persons connected 
with the revolution, commanded President Dole to relinquish to the 
queen her constitutional authority. This Dole politely but firmly 



HAWAII; VENEZUELA 655 

refused to do. Here indeed was a pretty kettle of fish ! Should c hap. 

the queen be restored by force? Should American guns be turned 

upon men of American blood in order to restore to her throne a 
Polynesian queen who was at heart a tyrant ? Without the sanction 
of Congress Cleveland could not of course resort to force, and that 
sanction he could not obtain. He submitted the matter to Congress 
without comment and received what was virtually a snub; for in 
May, 1894, the Senate voted unanimously that Hawaii should 
manage its own affairs and that the United States should not inter- 
fere. The provisional government was therefore free to go on with 
its plans. It proceeded to effect a permanent organization, and by 
July 4, 1894, there had been established for the islands a republic 
which was at once recognized by all the powers including the United 
States. The sentiment on the islands for annexation continued to 
be strong, and in 1898 when the United States desired Hawaii as 
a naval base the acquisition was easily effected by means of a joint 
resolution of the two houses of Congress. In 1900 Hawaii was 
organized as a Territory and the Hawaiians were admitted to 
American citizenship. The United States was now half-way across 
the Pacific. 

Viewed from the President 's point of view the Hawaiian incident The 
was an extremely unpleasant one, but it had no great effect upon Question 
the popular mind. "Had Mr. Cleveland simply put the treaty in 
the fire and kept his hands off Hawaii altogether, the whole affair 
would have been forgotten." But the Venezuelan question with 
which he was called upon to deal had in it such mighty possibilities 
of mischief that it caused deep apprehension in the minds of all 
thoughtful people. There had been a long-standing controversy 
over the boundary between Venezuela and the colony of British 
Guiana, and repeatedly Venezuela had appealed to our Govern- 
ment to interfere against what she contended was encroachment 
upon her soil. Our replies were uniformly friendly, but the boun- 
dary dispute did not become sufficiently acute to demand action by 
our State Department until 1895, when it was becoming plain to 
President Cleveland that Great Britain was determined to extend 
the western boundary of her colony so far into Venezuelan terri- 
tory that the extension would be violation of the Monroe Doctrine. 
"We had seen," said Cleveland in 1904, "her [Great Britain's] 
pretension in the disputed regions widen and extend in such man- 
ner and upon such pretexts as seemed to constitute an actual or 



656 A TIME OP GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 

xxxF' threatened violation of a doctrine which our nation long ago 
established, declaring that the American continents are not to be 
considered subjects for future colonization by any European 
power." The President had made repeated attempts to persuade 
the British Government to submit the dispute to arbitration but 
without success. Finally he determined to stop throwing grass 
and to see what virtue there might be in stones. In July, 1895, 
Richard Olney, who had succeeded Gresham as secretary of state, 
set forth in a despatch to Great Britain the views of the American 
Government in regard to the controversy. In remarkable language 
Olney protested against the enlargement of the area of British 
Guiana in derogation of the rights of Venezuela, appealing to the 
Monroe Doctrine as furnishing valid reasons for the protest. Never 
before had the doctrine been interpreted in such a broad and 
sweeping manner. "The United States," said Olney, "is prac- 
tically sovereign on this continent, and its fiat is law upon the 
subject to which it confines its interposition. Why? ... It is 
because in addition to all other grounds its infinite resources com- 
bined with its isolated position render it master of the situation 
and practically invulnerable against any or all other powers." 
The despatch called upon the British Government for a definite 
answer to the question whether it would or would not submit the 
controversy in its entirety to arbitration. 
Assertion of Although the words of the American secretary ' ' smacked of gun- 
DocfrinT 6 powder, ' ' Lord Salisbury, the British foreign minister, was slow in 
replying. Doubtless he thought our Government was merely in- 
dulging in the popular performance of "twisting the tail of the 
British lion." Late in 1895, when his reply did come, he asserted 
that the Monroe Doctrine had no place in the law of nations, that 
the reasons for justifying an appeal to it were not applicable to the 
conditions that existed at the time, and that the interpretation 
given to it by the despatch of Olney was new and strange. Not 
being prepared to admit that the United States had a right to 
interfere in the matter, Salisbury refused to submit the case to 
arbitration. He soon learned that our Government meant some- 
thing more than merely to beat the big drum. On December 17, 
1895, President Cleveland requested Congress for authority to 
appoint a commission to make the necessary investigation, and, 
having ascertained the true boundary between British Guiana and 
Venezuela, to report upon the matter with the least possible delay." 



HAWAII; VENEZUELA 657 

"When such report is made and accepted," said the message, "it chap. 

will in my opinion be the duty of the United States to resist by 

every means in its power as a wilful aggression upon its rights 
and interests, the appropriation by Great Britain of any lands or 
the exercise of governmental jurisdiction over any territory which 
after investigation we have determined of right belongs to Vene- 
zuela. In making these recommendations I am fully alive to the 
responsibility incurred and keenly realize all the consequences that 
may follow. ' ' 

The message was so unexpected and its implications were so An 
frightful that public opinion for a moment was badly stampeded, settianent 
Stocks tumbled, "jingoes" screamed, preachers thundered against 
war, editors cried aloud and spared not, some of them condemning 
the President for rashness but most of them supporting him in the 
strongest terms. There was really no very good reason for such 
intense excitement. It is true the President meant what he said; 
he had declared clearly and decisively that under a stated con- 
tingency war would be certain. "He was not bluffing, for he was 
prepared to meet the call ; but he did not expect to be called. ' ' He 
knew rather well that when it came to a pinch England would not 
change her long-established policy and run counter to the Monroe 
Doctrine. He knew, too, that at this very time there were so many 
situations in the Old World foreboding danger to England that 
she could be relied upon to avoid a conflict with the most powerful 
nation in the New World. At any rate, the countries were spared 
the horrible consequences of war. The British Government not 
only refrained from trying conclusions with America but actually 
assisted in bringing about an amicable settlement. When the 
commission which Cleveland asked for, and which Congress 
promptly authorized, expressed the hope that the British Govern- 
ment would see its way to aid in the investigation, Great Britain 
responded in a friendly fashion and placed valuable information 
in its archives at the disposal of the commissioners. Apprehension 
of a break was now dispelled. Before the commission made its 
final report Great Britain and the United States had reached an 
agreement which provided for the settlement of the whole contro- 
versy by arbitration. The decision of the tribunal to which the 
controversy was referred gave a large part of the disputed area to 
Great Britain. "The award," says J. H. Latane, "was a matter of 
secondary importance. The principle for which the United States 



658 



A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 



CHAP. 
XXXI 



contended was vindicated when Great Britain agreed to arbitrate. 
It was a great triumph of American diplomacy to force Great 
Britain just at this time to recognize in fact, if not in words, the 
Monroe Doctrine." 

The Wilson Tariff 



Tariff 
Reform 



The Wilson 
Bill 



In the same message in which President Cleveland in December, 
1893, first called the attention of Congress to the Venezuela dispute, 
he touched upon the tariff as follows : ' ' After a hard struggle 
tariff reform is directly before us. Nothing so important claims 
our attention and nothing so clearly presents itself as both an 
opportunity and a duty — an opportunity to deserve the gratitude 
of our fellow-citizens and a duty imposed upon us by our oft- 
repeated professions and the emphatic mandate of the people. 
Manifestly, if we are to aid the people directly through tariff 
reform one of its most obvious features should be a reduction in 
present tariff charges upon the necessaries of life. The benefits of 
such a reduction would be palpable and substantial, seen and felt 
by thousands who would be better fed and better clothed and better 
sheltered. ... A measure has been proposed by the appropriate 
Congressional committee embodying tariff reform on the lines 
herein suggested. It is the result of patriotic and unselfish work." 

The measure referred to was the tariff bill reported to the House 
in December, 1893, by William L. Wilson of West Virginia, chair- 
man of the Committee on Ways and Means. This bill was framed 
with the view of fulfilling the pledges made by the Democrats in 
their platform in 1892. As introduced in the House the Wilson 
Bill was a genuine measure of reform. "It proceeded upon the 
principle that the raw materials of manufacture ought for the most 
part to be entirely freed from duty ; that there should be through- 
out the whole list of dutiable articles as considerable a reduction of 
duties as a prudent regard for vested interests would permit ; and 
that duties should be ad valorem rather than specific in order that 
the burden might in every case be calculable. ' ' 1 While the bill 
proposed some important remissions of duty and many substantial 
reductions, it was by no means a radical measure when tested by 
the promises made by Democratic orators in 1892. The magnificent 
language of the stump is not always easily transmutable into the 
cold phraseology of the statute. "We know," said Chairman 

1 Woodrow "Wilson, "A History of the American People" ; Vol. V, p. 228. 



THE WILSON TARIFF 659 

Wilson when introducing the bill, ' ' that not all who march bravely f x ^ 

in the parade are found in line when the musketry begins to rattle. 

This is always the case. Reform is beautiful upon the mountain- 
top or in the clouds, but ofttimes very unwelcome as it approaches 
our own threshold. ' ' The bill as it came from the House placed on 
the free list sugar, iron ore, lumber, coal, and wool, while the 
excessively high duties imposed by the McKinley Act on such arti- 
cles as silks, cottons, woolens, and glass were reduced. 

One of the clauses of the proposed bill provided for an income The income 

x Tax Clause 

tax of 2 per cent upon all incomes in excess of $4000. It was 
thought that this tax would be necessary to make up the deficiency 
that would be caused by the reduced tariff schedules. This income 
tax clause was popular in the South and West, but in the East it 
was denounced on the ground that it was class legislation, that it 
was socialistic, that it was unjust and unfair. To meet the charge 
that it was unjust, the well-known dictum of Adam Smith was 
quoted: "The subjects of every state ought to contribute to the 
support of the government as nearly as possible in proportion to 
their respective abilities ; that is, in proportion to the revenue which 
they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state." It was 
urged that an income tax would have a tendency to drive the rich 
out of the country. "But whither will these people fly?" asked 
Bryan, always a stout champion of the income tax. "If their 
tastes," he said, "are English, and they stop in London, they will 
find a tax of more than 2 per cent assessed on their incomes; if 
they look for a place of refuge in Prussia, they will find an income 
tax of 4 per cent ; if they search for seclusion among the mountains 
of Switzerland, they will find an income tax of 8 per cent ; if they 
seek repose under the sunny skies of Italy, they will find an income 
tax of more than 12 per cent ; if they take up their abode in Austria 
they will find a tax of 20 per cent. I repeat, whither will they 
fly? . . . There is not a man whom I would charge with being 
willing to expatriate himself rather than contribute from his 
abundance to the support of the Government that protects him. ' ' 

The Wilson Bill passed the House in virtually the same form in The senate 

• m> j Destroys 

which it was reported by the committee, but in the Senate it suffered the charac- 

* J ' terofthe 

disastrous mutilations, for the Senate was now dealing with revenue Measure 
measures in a way that would have astounded statesmen in the 
early days of the republic. It was the expectation of the framers 
of the Constitution that the House would have complete control 



660 



A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 



CHAP. 
XXXI 



The Sugar 
Trust Scan- 
dal 



over the nation's taxes. "The House of Representatives," said 
James Madison in ''The Federalist," "holds the purse." But the 
expectation of the framers was not to be realized. Gradually the 
Senate by using its power of amendment acquired more and more 
influence in shaping revenue measures until at last it came to have 
no doubts as to its competency to deal with tax bills on equal terms 
with the House. It accordingly took the Wilson Bill and clipped it 
and trimmed until its original character was entirely destroyed. 
Under the leadership of Senator Gorman of Maryland, coal, iron 
ore, and sugar were taken off the free list, the rates on many arti- 
cles were raised, and specific duties again took the place of ad 
valorem duties. In all, 634 changes were made in the House 
measure. 

The action of the Senate on the sugar schedule gave rise to a 
memorable scandal. During the progress of the debate on the bill 
there were rumors that a group of senators was manipulating the 
rates on sugar with the view of making a profit out of Sugar Trust 
certificates in which they were said to be speculating. The rumor 
gained in credence from the fact that during the .entire time the 
bill was pending in the Senate officers of the Sugar Trust were in 
"Washington conferring with senators and committees. An investi- 
gation led to startling disclosures. Senator Quay of Pennsylvania 
frankly admitted that he had speculated in sugar and that he had 
done so while the Senate was engaged in fixing the schedules. In 
the course of the investigation H. 0. Havemeyer, the president of 
the Sugar Trust, was asked if his company contributed to the 
campaign funds of both parties. "Yes," he replied, "we always 
do that. In the State of New York, where the Democratic majority 
is between 40,000 and 50,000, we throw it their way. In the State 
of Massachusetts, where the Republican party is dominant, they 
probably have the call. Wherever there is a dominant party, 
wherever the majority is very large, that is the party that gets the 
contribution, because that is the party which controls local mat- 
ters. ' ' This dividing of money between the two parties, Havemeyer 
went on to say, was the practice of "every corporation and firm 
and trust. ' ' The investigation served a useful purpose in showing 
how rotten tilings were in Denmark, but further than this it accom- 
plished nothing. In the Senate the trusts had their way. By the 
time the Wilson Bill reached the President it was such a travesty 
of reform that he refused to sign it ; although he allowed it to be- 



THE WILSON TARIFF 661 

come a law without his signature, giving his reason for doing so in a xxxi' 

letter to Representative Catchings of Mississippi. In this letter the ~ 

President's disgust and disappointment at the outcome of his 
party 's efforts for tariff reform were expressed in angry words : 

Tariff reform will not be settled until it is honestly and fairly 
settled, in the interest and to the benefit of a patient and long- 
suffering people. . . . 

I take my place with the rank and file of the Democratic party 
. . . who are not blinded to the fact that the livery of Democratic' 
tariff reform has been stolen and worn in the service of Republi- 
can protection ; and who have marked the places where the deadly 
blight of treason has blasted the councils of the brave in their 
hour of might. The trusts and combinations — the communism of 
pelf — whose machinations have prevented us from reaching the 
success we deserved, should not be forgotten nor forgiven. 

One of the reasons why President Cleveland refrained from The income 

Tax 

using the veto against the Wilson Bill was that it provided for an 
income tax. But this, the best of its features, was soon eliminated. 
Congress imposed the income tax in the belief that it was con- 
stitutional, for in 1880 the Supreme Court had decided that an 
income tax on rents is not a direct tax within the meaning of the 
Constitution, but an excise tax. The constitutionality of the new 
tax was promptly challenged, however, and powerful legal talent 
was employed to secure a decision that would prevent its collection. 
In the case of Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. such lawyers 
as James C. Carter and Joseph H. Choate appeared before the 
Supreme Court to show that an income tax is a direct tax. If this 
could be shown the income tax provision of the Wilson Act would 
be of no effect, for it did not apportion the tax among the several 
States according to their respective numbers, as the Constitution 
provides direct taxes must be apportioned. The assault upon the 
law was successful; in May, 1895, by a vote of five to four the 
Supreme Court decided that the income tax as imposed by the 
Wilson Law was a direct tax and was therefore unconstitutional. 
Thus the court reversed itself and the income tax law of 1894 
became a dead letter. Inasmuch as the reversal was due to the fact 
that Justice Shiras changed his mind almost overnight, the decision 
could not escape being interpreted as a revelation of the court's 
fickleness and uncertainty of judgment. No decision since the Dred 
Scott Case had offended such a large body of public sentiment. 



662 A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 

xx'xi' ^^ e P r °test of those who wanted an income tax and who were 

disappointed in the decision found a partial expression at least in 

the words of Justice Harlan, who in a dissenting opinion said: 
' ' The practical effect of the decision to-day is to give certain kinds 
of property a position of favoritism and advantage inconsistent 
with the fundamental principles of our social organization, and to 
invest them with power and influence that may be perilous to that 
portion of the American people upon whom rests the larger part 
of the burdens of government and who ought not to be subjected to 
the dominion of aggregated wealth any more than the property of 
the country should be at the mercy of the lawless. ' ' 

1896 
Popular The Supreme Court was not allowed to have the last word on the 

Ferment 

income tax. In less than a year after its decision was rendered 
the question was taken to the people and became a theme for dis- 
cussion in one of the most bitter and exciting struggles in all our 
history. Next to the contest of 1860, the campaign of 1896 was the 
most momentous of all our political battles. Conditions for a big 
fight could hardly have been more favorable. The country was still 
suffering from the effects of the Panic of 1893; organized labor 
was seething with unrest; the champions of free coinage were 
challenging their adversaries to mortal combat; between the rich 
and the poor, between the millionaires and the lower and middle 
working classes, there was a gulf that was growing wider and 
deeper ; between the East and the West there was arising a section- 
alism produced by the relation of creditor and debtor; throughout 
the great West there was a popular ferment that resembled 
hysteria. 
Party At the opening of the campaign the public mind was in such a 

Demoral- . . _ _ . 

ization state of agitation that the politicians despaired of finding their 
bearings, and the leadership of both parties was torn with dis- 
sension. Upon one thing, however, there was great unanimity of 
opinion : everybody believed that the Democrats would be defeated. 
The Democratic party was surely in a sad plight. It was divided 
into a silver faction and a gold faction; it was discredited by the 
Wilson-Gorman Tariff and the bond sales; it was suffering from 
the rupture which existed between the President and Congress; it 
was execrated in labor circles because of the use which Cleveland 
had made of the injunction in the Pullman strike ; worse than all, 



1896 . 663 

it was being held responsible for four years of financial and indus- chap. 
trial distress. The party was not only demoralized but it was 



leaderless. At the beginning of the campaign it did not have in 
sight a single available candidate of commanding ability. As for 
the man who was its titular leader, no former President, not even 
John Quincy Adams, had ever been so intensely unpopular as 
Grover Cleveland was in 1896. 

The Republicans therefore entered the campaign in boastful Trouble 
mood. They could elect, they said, a yellow dog. Their confidence, Republican 
however, was due to the weakness of their adversaries rather than 
to their own strength, for there was abundant trouble in the 
Republican camp. The silver issue, like the slavery issue before it, 
was splitting everything, and the Republican party did not escape 
fissure. On the silver question, although it overshadowed all 
others, the Republican leaders at first were disinclined to take a 
definite stand and say what they meant. For example, the Ohio 
Republican State convention, which was the first to meet in 1896, 
resolved that all our currency be "sound as the Government and 
as untarnished as its honor," and that both metals be used as 
currency and kept at parity by legislative restrictions. Ordinarily 
such an utterance would have passed muster, but in 1896 the 
people were in no mood to be put off with ambiguous nonsense. 
Advocates of the gold standard wanted a platform, that should say 
gold, and the silverites wanted one that should say silver. In many 
instances, therefore, the State Republican conventions were con- 
strained to adopt resolutions that were not evasive. In ten States 
the declaration was for free silver. In only a few States did con- 
ventions declare in explicit terms in favor of a single gold standard. 
In the early stages of the campaign, .therefore, the Republicans, 
hardly knowing whether they were for free silver or against it, 
were as much at sea on the paramount issue as were the Democrats. 
Nor was their position in respect to leadership much better, for 
after the death of Blaine in 1893 the Republican party had been 
without a head. 

At an opportune moment, however, Marcus A. Hanna, a Republi- Marcus a. 
can of Ohio, came forward and assisted his party in resolving its 
doubts on the money question and in choosing a leader. Hanna was 
a prosperous business man who for many years had been taking an 
active part in politics. For a long time his interest in public 
affairs had been manifested chiefly in helping the political fortunes 



664 A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 

xxxi" °^ °ther men. His ambition was to make a President, and his first 

efforts in this direction were made in behalf of John Sherman. 

Failing with Sherman, he turned to William McKinley, for whom 
he entertained a devoted and sincere friendship. He began to 
coach McKinley for the Presidency in Harrison's time, and by 
1896 he was working with all his energy and was spending money 
lavishly for the nomination of the Ohio man. The event showed 
that the energy was not misspent and that the money was skilfully 
used. When the Republican convention met at St. Louis in June 
McKinley was nominated by an overwhelming vote on the first 
ballot. Next to McKinley, Thomas B. Reed of Maine was the most 
prominent of the avowed candidates for the nomination, but the 
"czar" received only eighty-four votes against 661 for his success- 
ful rival. 
a The chief task before the convention, however, was not the 

for Gold nomination of a candidate, for the choice of McKinley had been 
virtually decided in advance. The thing that puzzled the leaders 
was the construction of the platform. What would the platform 
say about the money question? Would it "straddle," or would it 
come out squarely against free coinage and in favor of the gold 
standard? It was soon found that the temper of the convention 
was against a straddle. McKinley was willing to stand for gold, 
but his record on the subject had been almost as tortuous and in- 
consistent as a record could be. He had voted for a free-silver bill 
in 1877, for the Bland-Allison Act in 1878, x and for the passage of 
the act over President Hayes's veto. He had advocated the passage 
of the Sherman Silver Act of 1890, 2 intimating that he would 
support a free-coinage measure, if it should be possible to pass one. 
In 1891 on the stump in Ohio he denounced free coinage. During 
the months immediately preceding the convention he was discreetly 
silent. Hanna was an out-and-out gold man, but he did not press 
the issue until he was certain that his friend would receive the 
nomination. Then he came out for gold and the following plank 
was adopted: "The Republican party is unreservedly for sound 
money ... we are therefore opposed to the free coinage of silver 
except by international agreement with the leading commercial 
nations of the world, which we pledge ourselves to promote, and 
until such agreement can be obtained the existing gold standard 

1 See p. 570. 

2 See p. G30. 



Shattered 



1896 665 

must be preserved." The silver delegates in the convention tried ^ap. 

to secure the adoption of a substitute plank but were defeated by a 

vote of 818 to 105. Thereupon Senator Cannon of Utah read a 
formal declaration of withdrawal from the convention on the part 
of the delegates from the silver States. The bolters, thirty-four in 
number, included Senator Henry M. Teller of Colorado and three 
other senators. " Teller and Cannon," said a spectator of the 
proceedings, "shook hands with the chairman and walked down the 
main aisle. Teller was weeping. Tears stood in Cannon's eyes. 
One by one Dubois, Pettigrew, Hartman and the others joined in 
the procession. ' ' Thus Hanna with all his talent for management 
was unable to hold the silver men in line. 

If the Republican party was split by the silver question, the The 

tv i- i t» Democratic 

Democratic party was shattered by it. But there was no doubt Party 
where the party stood : it was for free silver. This was made per- 
fectly plain by the action of the thirty-three State conventions 
which passed resolutions approving the free coinage of gold and 
silver at a ratio of sixteen to one, while only ten States declared 
for the gold standard. When the Democratic convention assembled 
in Chicago in July, it was dominated completely by the silver wing 
of the party. The majority, however, had to face the determined 
opposition of a powerful minority led by such masterful politicians 
as Gorman and Whitney and Hill. Moreover, the silver delegates 
were not well organized and they had no visible leader. "The 
silverites, " said a correspondent of "The New York World," will 
be invincible if united and harmonious; but they have neither 
machine nor boss. The opportunity is here ; the man is lacking. ' ' 
But the silverites were not in such a hopeless predicament after all. 
They had the man even though they were not aware of his presence. 
Besides, their concentration of purpose and clearness of aim sup- 
plied the place of a machine. The silverites knew precisely what 
they wanted to do, and they had their will in the convention from 
first to last. At the very outset when the national committee 
selected Senator Hill, a gold man, for temporary chairman the 
convention voted him down and elected Senator Daniel of Virginia, 
a silver man. On the third day the committee on resolutions 
brought in a platform containing a plank demanding "the free 
and unlimited coinage of gold and silver at the present legal ratio 
of sixteen to one without waiting for the aid and consent of any 
other nation." A minority report was presented by Senator Hill, 



666 A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 



CHAP, 
XXXI 



declaring for international bimetallism and commending the Cleve- 
land administration. During the debate on the majority and 
spEh Me minority reports William J. Bryan, one of the delegates, made a 
speech which, measured by its consequences, direct and indirect, 
was the most notable utterance delivered by an American between 
Lincoln's first inaugural address and Wilson's war speech before 
Congress on April 2, 1917. Mr. Bryan said in part : 

I should be presumptuous, indeed, to present myself against the 
distinguished gentlemen to whom you have listened, if this were 
a mere measuring of abilities; but this is not a contest between 
persons. The humblest citizen in the land, when clad in the armor 
of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error. I 
come to speak to you in defense of a cause as holy as the cause/ 
of liberty — the cause of humanity. . . . 

It is not a question of persons ; it is a question of principle ; and 
it is not with gladness that we find ourselves brought into conflict 
with those who are now arrayed upon the other side. . . . When 
you [turning to the delegates] come before us and tell us that we 
are about to disturb your business interests, we reply that you 
have disturbed our business interests by your course. 

We say to you that you have made the definition of a business 
man too limited in its application. The man who is employed for 
wages is as much a business man as his employer. The attorney 
in a country town is as much a business man as the corporation 
counsel in a great metropolis. The merchant at the crossroads 
store is as much a business man as the merchant of New York. The 
farmer who goes forth in the morning and toils all day — who be- 
gins in the spring and toils all summer — and who, by the applica- 
tion of brain and muscle to the natural resources of the country, 
creates wealth, is as much a business man as the man who goes 
upon the board of trade and bets upon the price of grain. The 
miners who go down a thousand feet into the earth, or climb two 
thousand feet upon the cliffs, and bring forth from their hiding- 
places the precious metals to be poured into the channels of trade, 
are as much business men as the few financial magnates who, in 
a back room, corner the money of the world. We come to speak for 
this broader class of business men. . . . 

We do not come as aggressors. Our war is not a war of con- 
quest; we are fighting in the defense of our homes, our families, 
and posterity. We have petitioned, and our petitions have been 
scorned. We have entreated, and our entreaties have been dis- 
regarded. We have begged, and they have mocked when our 



1896 667 

calamity came. We beg no longer ; we entreat no more ; we petition chap. 
no more. We defy them! . . . 

You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor 
of the gold standard. We reply that the great cities rest upon our 
broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our 
farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but 
destroy our farms, and the grass will grow in the streets of every 
city in the country. . . . 

We go forth confident that we shall win. Why? Because upon 
the paramount issue of this campaign there is not a spot of ground 
upon which the enemy will dare to challenge battle. If they tell 
us that the gold standard is a good thing, we shall point to their 
platform and tell them that their platform pledges the party to' 
get rid of the gold standard and to substitute bimetallism. If the 
gold standard is a good thing, why try to get rid of it? I call 
your attention to the fact that some of the very people who are in 
this convention to-day and who tell us that we ought to declare 
in favor of international bimetallism — thereby declaring that the 
gold standard is wrong and that the principle of bimetallism is 
better — these very people four months ago were open and avowed 
advocates of the gold standard, and were then telling us that we 
could not legislate two metals together, even with the aid of all 
the world. If the gold standard is a good thing, we ought to de- 
clare in favor of its retention and not in favor of abandoning it: 
and if the gold standard is a bad thing, why should we wait until 
other nations are willing to help us let go? Here is the line of 
battle, and we care not upon which issue they force the fight. We 
are prepared to meet them on either issue or on both. . . . 

It is the issue of 1776 over again. Our ancestors when but three 
millions in number had the courage to declare their political inde- 
pendence of every other nation. Shall we, their descendants, when 
we have grown to seventy millions, declare that we are less inde- 
pendent than our forfathers? No, my friends, that will never 
be the verdict of our people. Therefore, we care not upon what 
lines the battle is fought. If they say bimetallism is good, but 
that we cannot have it until other nations help us, we reply that, 
instead of having a gold standard because England has, we will 
restore bimetallism, and then let England have bimetallism because 
the United States has it. If they dare to come out into the open 
field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we will fight 
them to the uttermost. Having behind us the producing masses of 
this nation and the world, the laboring interests, and the toilers 
everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by 



668 



A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 



CHAP. 
XXXI 



saying to them : You shall not press down upon the brow of labor 
this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross 
of gold ! 



Bryan 
Nominated 



Gold 
Democrats 



Populists 



The Money 
Question 
Forced to 
the Front 



The substitute money plank offered by Senator Hill and the 
resolution commending the administration were voted down, and 
the platform containing the free silver plank was adopted. The 
convention was then ready to name a candidate, but it deferred 
action until the next day. It was the judgment of observers that 
Bryan could have been nominated at the conclusion of his speech if 
he had been willing to allow the regular order of proceedings to be 
overruled. He was reported, however, to have said : "If my boom 
will not last till to-morrow, it certainly would wilt before election 
day." On the morrow he was nominated on the fifth ballot. The 
delegates who favored the gold standard — about 160 in number — 
showed their disapprobation by refusing to vote. 

The nomination of Bryan was warmly received in the South and 
West, but in the East it brought consternation to all conservative 
Democrats. "Are you still a Democrat?" Senator Hill was asked 
upon his return from the convention to New York. "Yes, I am a 
Democrat, still," he replied, "very still." To thousands of gold 
Democrats the free-silver pill was too bitter to swallow. There was 
accordingly organized what was called the National Democratic 
party, which held a convention at Indianapolis, repudiated the 
action of the Chicago convention, and nominated John M. Palmer 
of Illinois. The nomination, however, was not made with the 
expectation of victory. Palmer was put up so that those Democrats 
who were opposed to free silver and could not in conscience vote 
for a Republican might have a man for whom they could cast their 
ballots. The defection of the gold Democrats was more than 
counterpoised by the accession of the Populist vote. On July 25 
thirteen hundred delegates representing the Populists met in con- 
vention at St. Louis and endorsed the nomination of Bryan. Thus 
the question that politicians had been asking so anxiously in 1892 x 
was answered : the virile and rapidly growing Populist party was 
absorbed by the Democrats. 

The nominations were no sooner made than the canvass for votes 
began, and soon the country was stirred to its depths by the appeal 
that was being made to the electorate. McKinley, as the high priest 

1 See p. G40. 



1896 669 

of protection, would gladly have made the tariff the chief issue in xxxf' 

the campaign ; but Bryan forced the fighting on the money ques- 

tion. The Republican "candidate instead of running on an issue 
with which his whole political career was associated was forced to 
run on an issue upon which his own record was equivocal, and 
which in his opinion gravely compromised the success of his candi- 
dacy. ' ' Once he had accepted the money question as the leading 
issue, however, McKinley defended the gold standard with ability 
and courage. Remaining at his home in Canton he received 
thousands of visitors from all parts of the country and addressed 
them in speeches that were useful discussions of the dominant 
issue. Bryan toured the country, traveling a distance of more than 
thirteen thousand miles, reaching twenty-nine States, and address- 
ing perhaps 5,000,000 persons. ' ' The candidate of the Democrats, ' * 
says Woodrow Wilson, "made a gallant figure wherever he moved. 
... To the excited crowds that pressed about him he seemed a sort 
of knight errant going to redress the wrongs of a nation. There 
could be no mistaking his earnestness or his conviction or the deep 
power of the motives to which he appealed. His gifts were those of 
the practised orator, his qualities those of the genuine man of the 
people. His strong, musical voice carried his message to the 
utmost limits of any throng and rang in a tone that warmed men's 
blood." 

For a while the Republicans seemed to think they could win the calling 
election simply by calling names. In almost every important ames 
journal in the land, whether Republican or Democratic — for nearly 
all the leading Democratic papers went over to the side of the 
Republicans, — Bryan was rained upon with abuse and held up to 
scorn and ridicule. He was a "cheap demagogue," a "blather- 
skite," a "wind-bag," an "anarchist," and everything else in the 
dictionary of invective. The more responsible and dignified the 
newspaper the more irresponsible and undignified, it would seem, 
was the language it used. For example, the New York "Evening 
Post" had this to say about Bryan's speech at Chicago: "The 
Chicago convention yesterday evolved its chief demagogue in the 
person of William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, who took the mob of 
repudiators off their feet by a speech of forty-blatherskite power." 
Very soon indeed level-headed men saw that this kind of thing 
would not do; that the thing that would beat Bryan was not 
defamation but education. The "Post" itself quickly saw the 



670 



A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 



CHAP. 
XXXI 



Collection 
Funds 
for the 
Campaign 



"The 

Campaign 
of Educa- 
tion" 



light and changed its tune. "What is needed." it now said, "is a 
campaign of elementary education." 

A campaign of education was accordingly decided upon. Plans 
were laid for a Republican propaganda that should penetrate, if 
necessary, into every election precinct in the country. Of course 
a vast amount of money would be necessary for such an under- 
taking. Here it was that the genius of Hanna could assert itself. 
As he had had large experience as a collector of campaign funds, 
he knew how to get the money that was needed. ' ' Appeals, ' ' says 
Herbert Croly, 1 "were made to banks and business men, irrespec- 
tive of party affiliations, to come to the assistance of the National 
Committee. Responsible men were appointed to act as local agents 
in all fruitful neighborhoods for the purpose both of soliciting and 
receiving contributions. In the case of the banks a regular assess- 
ment was levied, calculated, I believe, at the rate of one-quarter of 
one per cent of their capital, and this assessment was for the most 
part paid. It is a matter of public record that large financial insti- 
tutions, such as the life insurance companies, were liberal con- 
tributors. The Standard Oil Company gave $250,000." Thus the 
country was gone over as with a fine-tooth comb. The sum raised 
amounted to several millions of dollars and was vastly in excess 
of the funds collected in any previous campaign. Campaign 
expenditures in 1888 and again in 1892 had been excessive, but in 
1896 the outlay was so tremendous that the country learned for the 
first time what money could really do in a national election. 

The country for the first time learned, also, what propaganda 
could do. The campaign of education was carried forward with 
the same thoroughness that was displayed in the collection of the 
funds. Hundreds of millions of documents were sent out to carry 
the doctrines of sound money into every nook and corner of the 
nation. Thousands of campaigners were employed to go hither and 
thither and explain to the people what the free coinage of silver 
meant. The market price of the metal in a silver dollar in 1896 
was about sixty -nine cents ; that is, one hundred silver dollars when 
melted contained enough silver to buy sixty-nine gold dollars. 
Since this was so, the Republicans contended that under the plan 
proposed by the Democrats debts would always be paid in silver; 
if a man owed one hundred dollars he would take sixty-nine dollars 
in gold, buy silver with it, get it coined into one hundred silver 

1 "Life of Marcus Alonzo Hanna" : p. 220. 



1896 



671 



dollars, and pay his debt. The Democrats endeavored to meet this ^."xf* 

argument by pointing out that the enormous demand for silver 

under a free-coinage law would greatly raise the market value of 
the white metal. The Republican orators, denying the validity of 
this contention, went on to picture the disasters that would flow 
from the free coinage of silver: silver being the cheaper metal, 
nothing but silver would be used and gold would be driven out of 
circulation; the flood of silver would cause prices to rise and as 
they rose the value of fixed incomes, insurance policies, deposits in 
savings-banks, mortgages, and other evidences of debt would fall; 




The presidential elec- 
tion of 1896— the 
y solid states gave 
Democratic pluralities 



the substitution of silver for gold as a payment of debt would mean 
repudiation and would bring disgrace and dishonor upon the name 
of the nation. 

It was a campaign of argument, and argument won; the major- McKiniey 

Elected 

ity of voters were convinced that the free coinage of silver at the 
ratio of sixteen to one would do the country more harm than good. 
When the smoke of battle cleared away it was found that McKiniey 
had received 271 electoral votes and that Bryan had secured 176. 
Of the popular vote McKiniey got 7,111,607, and Bryan 6,502,600. 
The Republicans were victorious but they knew that they had been 
in a fight. Never before had a Presidential candidate of any party 
received so great a vote as had been cast for Bryan. In California, 
Oregon, Kentucky, Indiana, North Dakota, and West Virginia the 



672 A TIME OF GREAT FERMENT: 1893-97 

chap. election was so extremely close that a properly distributed change 

of a total of 25,000 votes in these States would have given the 

Democrats a majority in the electoral college. 

Bryan took his defeat like a philosopher. When at his home in 
Lincoln on election night the messages were coming in bringing 
news that he did not want to hear, "confidence resolved itself into 
doubt and doubt in turn gave place to resignation." As soon as 
he was certain of his defeat he telegraphed to his successful rival : 
"I hasten to extend my congratulations. We have submitted the 
issue to the American people and their will is law." McKinley 
wired in reply: "I acknowledge the receipt of your courteous 
message of congratulations with thanks and beg that you will 
receive my best wishes for your health and happiness. ' ' 
Malediction Courtesy and good manners, however, did not prevail all around. 
Bryan had given the financial interests of the country a shock of 
great severity. Every man with a dollar had been frightened. 
"Probably no man," said "The Nation" at the close of the cam- 
paign, "has succeeded in inspiring in civil life so much terror 
without taking life, as Bryan." Moreover, in his speeches he had 
hurt the feelings of large classes of men connected with what 
Cleveland called the ' ' communism of pelf. ' ' By the time the cam- 
paign was over the Democratic candidate was so hated and so 
feared that in many quarters there was no disposition to forgive 
him or even treat him with respect. On the contrary, in some 
cases malediction was louder after the election than before it. By 
way of illustrating the ferocious attitude of the press toward Bryan 
after the election, historians of the period are fond of quoting the 
following passage from the "New York Tribune": 

The thing was conceived in iniquity and was brought forth in 
sin. It had its origin in a malicious conspiracy against the honour 
and integrity of the nation. It gained such monstrous growth as 
it enjoyed from an assiduous culture of the basest passions of the 
least worthy members of the community. It has been defeated 
and destroyed because right is right and God is God. Its nominal 
head was worthy of the cause. Nominal, because the wretched, 
rattle-pated boy, posing in vapid vanity and mouthing resounding 
rottenness, was not the real leader of that league of hell. He was 
only a puppet in the blood-imbued hands of Altgeld, the anarchist, 
and Debs, the revolutionist, and other desperadoes of that stripe. 
But he was a willing puppet, Bryan was, — willing and eager. Not 



1896 673 

one of his masters was more apt than he at lies and forgeries and £§£f • 

blasphemies and all the nameless iniquities of that campaign 

against the Ten Commandments. He goes down with the cause, 
and must abide with it in the history of infamy. He had less 
provocation than Benedict Arnold, less intellectual force than 
Aaron Burr, less manliness and courage than Jefferson Davis. He 
was the rival of them all in deliberate wickedness, and treason to 
the Republic. His name belongs with theirs. 

Suggested Readings 

Hard times and free silver : Haworth, pp. 206-231. 

189G : Lingley, pp. 350-376 ; Stanwood, Vol. I, pp. 518-569. 

The Wilson Tariff: Taussig, pp. 284-320. 

The Panic of 1893 : Van Metre, pp. 475-501. 



XXXII 
TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 

FOR nearly a hundred years the United States, taking heed of 
the warnings of Washington and Jefferson against entangling 
alliances, held a place to itself far apart from the other countries 
of the globe. It maintained friendly relations with the nations of 
the Old World and traded with them, but outside of this it had 
little to do with them. In the very last years of the nineteenth 
century, however, this policy of "splendid isolation" was aban- 
doned. We were compelled to abandon it. Events brought us into 
touch with distant countries in a way that made it necessary for 
us to mingle with other nations and assume a responsible position 
among the great powers of the world. 

The Dingley Bill 

PrSde!)" No matter how bitter a Presidential campaign may be, the 
successful candidate is likely to enter the White House with the 
best wishes of virtually the whole body of the American people. 
This was certainly true in the case of President McKinley. Not- 
withstanding the asperities of 1896 he enjoyed popularity from the 
beginning. His personal qualities were such as to make him a 
popular favorite. He could make a good speech ; his manner was 
kindly and genial; he mingled with men and made friends. His 
instincts were those of a genuine democrat. He always held his 
ear close to the ground so as to be able to respond to the popular 
impulse, for he felt that the people were his masters and that he 
must do their will. He was popular, too, because he was looked 
upon as the "advance agent of prosperity." During the campaign 
the people had been taught that, if elected, he would bring back 
good times, and he had hardly more than taken his seat than, lo 
and behold ! the clouds of adversity began to break and there was a 
dawn of renewed prosperity. 

674 



THE DINGLEY BILL 



675 



In the selection of his cabinet McKinley would gladly have chap. 

chosen Hanna for one of the places, but the friend to whom he 

owed so much desired a seat in the Senate. It turned out that this Hanna in 

the Senate 

could be arranged. Senator John Sherman of Ohio was named as 
secretary of state, and Hanna was appointed by the governor of 
Ohio to fill the vacancy thus created in the Senate. The new 
secretary of state was a man of seventy-four, and he was so infirm 
that he soon had to be replaced by William R. Day of Ohio. In 
about a year Day retired and John Hay became the premier of the 
administration. 1 It was freely charged that McKinley was aware 
that Sherman was physically and mentally unfit for the duties of 
secretary of state and that Sherman was appointed simply for the 
purpose of advancing Hanna. Hanna 's leading biographer, Her- 
bert Croly, does not concede the truth of this accusation. "The 
appointment," says Croly, "commended itself to Mr. McKinley as 
one that from many points of view was extremely desirable. Mr. 
Sherman was, in 1897, if not the most eminent living American 
statesman, at least the statesman with the longest record of useful 
public service. His name carried more weight than that of any 
other political leader." 

It could be expected that the new administration would move silver 
along smoothly, for in both branches of Congress the Republicans Aside for 
were in full control. Besides, in the Senate the powerful Hanna 
could be relied upon for guidance and support. The first thing 
taken up was tariff revision. The campaign had been fought out 
on the currency question and there were those who maintained that 
the first duty of Congress and the President was to reform the 
monetary system. But McKinley was still timid on the free-silver 
question. There was a very good reason why he should hesitate 
during the first half of his term to ask Congress for a gold-standard 
law : the Senate still contained such a strong silver element that it 
was likely that a gold-standard bill would have been voted down. 
He therefore ignored the money question, which could not have 
been touched without producing dissension and bad feeling, and 
decided to begin with the tariff. Calling Congress together in 

1 The other members of McKinley's cabinet were : Lyman J. Gage of Illinois, 
secretary of the treasury ; Russell A. Alger of Michigan, secretary of war ; 
Joseph McKenna of California, attorney-general ; J. A. Gary of Maryland, 
postmaster-general ; J. D. Long of Massachusetts, secretary of the navy ; C. N. 
Bliss of New York, secretary of the interior ; James Wilson of Iowa, secretary 
of agriculture. 



676 TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 

chap. extra session on March 15, he said in a mesasge : "I feel that your 

assembling in extraordinary session is indispensable because of the 

condition in which we find the revenues of the Government. . . . 
Current expenditures are greater than its receipts. Congress 
should promptly correct the existing condition. ... In raising 
revenue, duties should be so levied upon foreign products as to 
preserve the home market, so far as possible, to our own producers ; 
to revive and increase manufactures; to relieve and encourage 
agriculture; to increase our domestic and foreign commerce; to 
render to labor in every field of useful occupation the liberal wages 
and adequate rewards to which skill and industry are justly 
entitled." The President, therefore, wanted a tariff that would 
care for the deficit — which was quite generally attributed to the 
workings of the Wilson Law — and that would please the manu- 
facturers, who were again clamoring for the restoration of the old 
highly protective duties. That the National Treasury was in a bad 
condition was true, but in this connection two things ought to be 
remembered : first, that the deficit appeared and was greatest 
during the years in which the McKinley Law of 1890 was in force ; 
and, secondly, that the revenues under the workings of the Wilson 
Law by 1897 were increasing and were almost certain to be suffi- 
cient in a short time for the needs of the Government. 

The new tariff bill was brought into the House by Chairman 
Nelson Dingley three days after the session began. Under the iron 
rule of Speaker Reed, the measure was railroaded through in less 
than two weeks. Only a small part of it was considered, 141 of the 
163 pages not even being taken up for discussion. In the Senate its 
progress was slower, for here the particular interest of this or that 
class had to receive attention. Some 872 amendments were made 
in the upper branch, and by the time the bill reached enactment in 
July, 1893, the handicraft of Dingley had become scarcely recog- 
nizable. The new law pushed the protective principle further than 
ever before. The rates on sugar, woolen goods, silks, linens, and 
on some of the manufactures of iron and steel were increased. In 
the Wilson Law an attempt had been made to carry out the theory 
of relieving the raw materials of manufactures from duty. The 
Dingley Law repudiated this theory by restoring wool, flax, lum- 
ber, hides of cattle, and many chemicals to the dutiable list. The 
principle of reciprocity which had been a feature of the McKinley 
Bill was incorporated in the new law : the President was empow- 



THE WAR WITH SPAIN 677 

ered to conclude treaties providing for reductions as great as 20 °hap. 

per cent in return for commercial concessions from other countries, 

the reciprocity arrangements to be made within two years of the 
passage of the law and to be ratified in all cases by the Senate. 
Nothing of importance, however, in the way of reciprocity was 
ever accomplished by virtue of the Dingley Act. 

No tariff measure, perhaps, was ever more roundly denounced TheWork- 
than the Dingley Act, and yet no law ever gave greater strength to Dkfgi^Act 
the cause of protection or did more to improve the fortunes of the 
political party that was responsible for its passage. It proved to 
be a good revenue producer and after its enactment prosperity was 
widespread. It is not at all clear, however, that the new tariff 
brought the good times, for the prosperity of those days was world 
wide. Nevertheless the Republican stump speakers were fond of 
pointing to the Dingley Act as the source of most of the country's 
blessings, and to the minds of a majority of the American people 
the stump speakers were right. The law gave such general satis- 
faction that it was allowed to remain on the books for twelve years. 

The workings of the protective system under the Dingley Tariff 
may be fairly well learned from the following table, which shows 
for the year 1903 the importation value of twelve leading classes 
of articles, the amount of duty collected on each class of commodi- 
ties, and the rate of duty : 

Duties Percentage 

Articles Value Collected of Duty 

Sugar $64,807,224 $63,214,744 97 

Wool, raw 21,358,030 11,631,041 54 

Woolen goods 19,302.006 17,564.694 91 

Cotton goods 51,706,978 27,758,625 53 

Tobacco 18,298,780 21,892,109 119 

Silk goods 36,047,873 19,276,546 63 

Iron and steel goods 33,385,663 12,652,042 37 

Goods made of fibers and grasses. .. 41,294,963 15,811,703 38 

Liquors 15,622,835 11,210,497 51 

Drugs and dyes 24,162,545 6,604,476 27 

Stone and chinaware 10,534,041 6,153,463 58 

Fruits and nuts 12,924,825 5,693,924 44 

$349,445,763 $219,463,864 

The War with Spain 

Congress had hardly finished the Dingley Bill before it was The Cuban 
called upon to deal with a serious situation existing on the island f^ Tl> ' 
of Cuba. We have already learned of the trouble we had with 



678 TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 

x\xn Spain during the revolt of the Cubans in Grant's time. 1 In 1895 

the Cubans revolted again, and again the United States became 

involved. In June, 1895, shortly after the revolution broke out, 
President Cleveland issued a proclamation warning Americans 
against taking part in the insurrection. Notwithstanding this 
proclamation, illegal expeditions, fitted out in the United States, 
landed upon the shores of Cuba carrying aid to the revolutionists. 
In 1896 Cleveland in his annual message, after discussing the 
Cuban situation at length, said: "When the inability of Spain to 
deal successfully with the insurgents has become manifest and it is 
demonstrated that her sovereignty is extinct in Cuba for all pur- 
poses of its rightful existence, and when a hopeless struggle for its 
reestablishment has degenerated into a strife which means nothing 
more than the useless sacrifice of human life and the utter destruc- 
tion of the very subject matter of the conflict, a situation will be 
presented in which our obligations to the sovereignty of Spain will 
be superseded by higher obligations, which we can hardly hesitate 
to recognize and discharge." These words, written by Cleveland 
when his administration was rapidly drawing to a close, fore- 
shadowed exactly the situation which was to confront his successor. 
When McKinley came to deal with Cuban affairs Spain's inability 
to put down the insurgents had been demonstrated, and the strug- 
gle had degenerated into a useless destruction of life and property. 
So far was this true that Americans could no longer condone the 
cruel measures to which Spain resorted in her efforts to crush the 
insurrection. The barbarities of Valeriano Weyler, the general-in- 
chief of the Spanish forces, were so frightful that they aroused the 
anger of Americans as well as their sympathy. By the order of this 
ruthless commander all Cuban peasants who were in sympathy 
with the rebellion were to be gathered — "reconcentrated" — in 
towns occupied by regular troops. In carrying out this policy of 
' ' reconcentration, ' ' hundreds of thousands of helpless men, women, 
and children were penned up in towns "like cattle and were com- 
pelled to exist under conditions which no cattle could have 
endured." 
strained President McKinley did not want to muddle the diplomatic 

with Spain waters by intervening in Cuban affairs, but the atrocities of Weyler 
made it impossible for him to keep out. In June, 1897, he protested 
1 See p. 550. 



THE WAR WITH SPAIN 679 

against the "reconcentration" order in the name of humanity and chap. 
in the interest of American citizens who were all too frequently — — 
made the victims of Weyler's harsh measures. The protest was 
followed by a note to the Spanish Government tendering the good 
offices of the United States for the adjustment of Cuban affairs. 
In response Spain recalled Weyler and announced on November 7 
that she would grant the Cubans self-government. This liberal 
policy could not be carried out, however, for the army and the 
Spanish citizens of the island did not want genuine autonomy, 
which would mean government by the Cuban people. The rebellion 
accordingly continued, and the relations between Spain and the 
United States grew worse and worse. In February, 1898, the 
battle-ship Maine was ordered to Havana. The despatch of the 
vessel was officially declared to be a friendly act, and she was re- 
ceived by the Spanish authorities in Havana with every outward 
mark of attention and respect; but her presence in Cuban waters 
was the cause of considerable irritation to the Spanish authorities. 
On February 9, while she was lying at anchor, the Dupuy de Lome 
letter became public. This was a surreptitiously acquired private 
letter written by Senor Dupuy de Lome, the Spanish minister at 
Washington, reflecting on President McKinley in language that was 
grossly disrespectful. The President was referred to as "a weak 
caterer to the rabble," and "a cheap politician who wishes to leave 
a door open to himself and to stand well with the jingoes of his 
party." The publication of the letter led to the resignation of 
de Lome and was the cause of much excitement both in Spain and 
the United States. 

Presently the excitement was increased a hundredfold by an The Maine 
event which shocked the whole world. On the night of February 
15, while the Maine was lying at her place in the harbor, an ex- 
plosion occurred which utterly wrecked her and killed two officers 
and 258 of her crew. An examination made by a board of naval 
officers showed that the vessel had been destroyed by an exterior 
explosion, that of a submarine mine. The board, however, was 
unable to fix the responsibility upon any person or persons. Cap- 
tain Sigsbee, the commander of the Maine, when telegraphing to 
Washington the news of his ship's destruction, added the words: 
" Public opinion should be suspended until further report." To 
an extent the public acted upon his advice, but when it was officially 



CHAP. 
XXXII 



McKinley 
Gives Way 
to the War 
Party ' 



680 TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 

announced on March 22 that the explosion had been caused by a 
mine there was an outburst of popular feeling that was all too 
ominous of war. 

The President did not wish war, and sought earnestly to placate 
public opinion by finding some middle ground. But Congress 
wanted war, many newspapers wanted it, and the people seemed 
to be more than willing for it. Accordingly, giving way to the 
war party, the President sent to Congress on April 11 a message 
declaring that on grounds of humanity forcible intervention in 
Cuba was necessary. "I have exhausted," he said, "every effort 
to relieve the intolerable condition of affairs which is at our doors." 
Congress responded on April 19 — the anniversary of the Battle of 
Lexington — by adopting the following resolutions : 

First, That the people of the island of Cuba are and of right 
ought to be, free and independent. 

Second, That it is the duty of the United States to demand, and 
the Government of the United States does hereby demand, that 
the Government of Spain at once relinquish its authority and gov- 
ernment in the island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval 
forces from Cuban waters. 

Third, That the President of the United States be, and he hereby 
is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces 
of the United States and to call into the actual service of the United 
States the militia of the several States to such extent as may be 
necessary to carry these resolutions into effect. 

Fourth, That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition 
or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over 
said island except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its de- 
termination, when that is accomplished, to leave the government 
and control of the island to its people. 



"War Has 
Com- 
menced" 



The passage of this resolution of course meant war. On April 24 
the Spanish Government officially declared war against the United 
States. The same day Commander (afterward Admiral) George 
Dewey, who was at Hong-Kong with a squadron of the American 
navy, received from the Government at Washington the following 
cablegram : ' ' War has commenced between the United States and 
Spain. Proceed at once to the Philippine Islands. Commence 
operations at once, particularly against Spanish fleet. You must 
capture vessels or destroy. Use utmost endeavors." On April 25 
Congress formally declared war upon the kingdom of Spain. At 



THE WAR WITH SPAIN 681 

first it was thought that all the fighting would be on the sea, but xxxn 

as a matter of precaution President McKinley called for volunteer 

troops, since the regular army was too small for operations on a 
sufficiently large scale. A proclamation of April 23 called for 
125,000 men ; and two days later there was a call for 75,000 more. 
The country had been enjoying profound peace for more than a 
quarter of a century, but the response to the proclamations of the 
President showed that there was plenty of fighting spirit left. Be- 
fore the end of May more than 120,000 recruits had been mustered 
in and were in training for active service. The volunteers came 
from all classes and from all parts of the country. Soldiers who 
in the Civil War had worn the gray came forward in the Spanish- 
American War to fight by the side of those who had worn the blue. 
A picturesque feature of the volunteer army was a cavalry regi- 
ment known as the ''Rough Riders." This force consisted of 
several hundred cow-boys, hunters, ranchmen, Indians, and gradu- 
ates of Harvard, Yale, and other colleges. Its colonel was Dr. 
Leonard Wood, an army surgeon. Its lieutenant-colonel was Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, who at the outbreak of the war resigned the position 
of assistant secretary of the navy to take an active part in the 
fighting. 

When Dewey received his order from Washington he steamed The Battle 
out of Hong-Kong and proceeded with all possible speed to the 
Philippines. At daybreak on May 1 he was off Manila near enough 
to see the Spanish fleet, and a few minutes after five be was ready 
for action. Turning to Captain Gridley, the flag-officer of the 
Olympia, he quietly said: "You may fire when you're ready, 
Gridley." Before high noon the Battle of Manila had been fought 
and won. The American ships were scarcely injured at all and not 
a single American was killed. On the Spanish side ten ships were 
destroyed, 381 men killed, and a considerable number wounded. 
Nothing could have been more sudden or unexpected than the news 
of the victory, which reached Washington on May 6, for the public 
knew little or nothing of Dewey's movements or of the instructions 
he had received. Yet it was news that thrilled the country ; the 
American navy had won a decisive battle in waters far off on the 
opposite side of the globe. The eyes of the nation at once turned 
to the Orient, and "people who had to search closely on their maps 
in order to find the Philippine Islands were soon discussing glibly 
the commercial and strategic importance of the group." 



682 TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 



CHAP. 
XXXII 



The 

Philippines 

Seized 



As he had destroyed the Spanish fleet and thus executed the 
President's orders, Dewey, had he chosen to do so, might have 
sailed away from the Philippines at once and left them to their 
fate. He chose, however, to remain on the scene, and blockaded 
Manila with the view of taking it as soon as reinforcements could 
be secured. While waiting for the arrival of troops from home he 
was annoyed by the conduct of Admiral von Diederich, the com- 
mander of some war-ships which had been assigned for duty in 
Manila Bay for the purpose of protecting German interests in the 
city. Ships of several other neutral nations were present for the 

same purpose. Great Britain had 
three men-of-war, France one, and 
Japan one. Germany, although her 
interests in the Philippines were 
negligible, had five — a naval force 
more powerful than the one com- 
manded by Dewey himself. The 
commanders of the British, French, 
and Japanese vessels observed the 
proprieties of the blockade, but von 
Diederich disregarded them in such 
an offensive manner that he had to 
be brought up with a round turn. 
Dewey sent his compliments to the 
German commander informing him 
of his violations of the courtesies of 
naval intercourse and telling him 
he might have one at once. This 
he disavowed what had 



LUZON;')/ PACIFIC 



Manila Banff 
SO VTB 




OCEAN 



MINDORoY . " ^ 

CB1NA sj, ^j? ft'" 3 P^.^aWr 




SULU 

BRITISH I»V ^ ' " '. f 9 ISLANDS 
NORTH. BORNEO ^3'* 

tV* CELEBES SEA 



Santiago 



The Philippines 

that if he wanted a fight 

brought von Diederich to his senses: 

been done and thereafter observed the regulations of the blockade. 

At the end of June the reinforcements from the United States 

had arrived, and the Americans could now go ahead with 

their plans for capturing the city. On August 12 the land 

and naval forces under General Wesley Merritt made a joint 

attack upon Manila, and after a short fight the city surrendered. 

Thus the Philippine Islands, which had been held by Spain from 

the days of Magellan, were brought under the power of the United 

States. 

While Dewey was strengthening his power at Manila, in the 
Caribbean there was war on land and sea. The fighting in Cuba 



THE FRUITS OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 683 

took place near Santiago. On May 19 a Spanish fleet under xxxff 

Admiral Cervera entered Santiago Harbor, where it was block- 

aded by an American fleet under Admiral W. T. Sampson. On 
June 3 Lieutenant Richard Hobson undertook to "bottle up" the 
Spanish fleet within the harbor. With several companions he con- 
ducted the coal-ship Merrimac to the narrowest place in the channel 
and there sank it. Hobson and his men were captured. In the 
meantime our land troops were gathering around Santiago. On 
July 1 El Caney and San Juan Hill, the outer defenses of Santiago, 
were assaulted by the Americans, and after two days' fighting they 
were carried by storm. In the struggle for these places distin- 
guished service was rendered by the Rough Riders. When Cervera 
saw that Santiago was doomed, he sailed out of the harbor — he was 
not "bottled" up after all, — but he was not allowed to escape. His 
ships were attacked by the American fleet commanded by Admiral 
Sampson and within a few hours they were destroyed. In this en- 
gagement the American fleet was directed by Commodore W. S. 
Schley : the actual commander was absent, though not so far away 
as to be out of sight of the fighting. On July 16, soon after the 
destruction of Cervera 's fleet, Santiago surrendered. On July 25 
General N. A. Miles captured Porto Rico. Spain was now ready 
for peace and the Spanish-American War quickly came to an end. 

It was a little war and a short one. The days upon which there statistics 

ot the \\ ar 

was fighting in regular pitched battles could be counted upon the 
fingers of one hand. The casualties on the American side num- 
bered about 280 killed and 1500 wounded. The cost in money was 
something more than $150,000,000. The war was fought with 
enthusiasm on the part of the American troops, and it was sup- 
ported heartily by the American people. But it did not stir the 
nation deeply. It could not, for there was no doubt about the 
outcome ; the defeat of the enemy was visible from the beginning. 



The Fruits of the Spanish-American War 

On the day after Porto Rico was taken President McKinley was 
informed that the Spanish Government, acknowledging the futility 
of further resistance, was desirous of making peace. Spain asked 
that the negotiations be limited to the Cuban question, for she 
wished to retain Porto Rico, "the last memory of a glorious past," 



The Peace 
Commission 



684 



TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 



CHAP. 
XXXII 



What 
Should Be 
Done with 
the Philip- 
pines ? 



and she took the position that her sovereignty over the Philippines 
had not been affected by the war. McKinley appointed a peace 
commission composed of William R. Day, who resigned as secretary 
of state to head the commission; Cushman K. Davis, chairman of 
the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations ; W. P. Frye, president 
pro tern, of the Senate; Senator George Gray of Delaware; and 
Whitelaw Reid: the majority of the commission, therefore, con- 
sisted of United States senators. The peace commission met at 
Paris on October 1. Before it met, however, Spain had been given 
to understand that Porto Rico would be held by the United States 
and that the status of the Philippines would be made a subject of 
negotiation. 

A most difficult subject the Philippine question was, for it in- 
volved problems of policy that perplex American statesmen even 
to the present time. President McKinley himself was in doubt as 
to what ought to be done with the distant archipelago. In a letter 
of instructions to the peace commission he said on September 16 : 
"Without any original thought of complete or even partial acqui- 
sition, the presence and success of our arms at Manila imposes upon 
us obligations which we cannot disregard. The march of events 
rules and overrules human action. Avowing unreservedly the pur- 
pose which has animated all our effort, and still solicitous to 
adhere to it, we cannot be unmindful that, without any desire or 
design on our part, the war has brought us new duties and respon- 
sibilities which we must meet and discharge as becomes a great 
nation on whose growth and career from the beginning the Ruler 
of Nations has plainly written the high command and pledge of 
civilization. Incidental to our tenure in the Philippines is the 
commercial opportunity to which American statesmanship cannot 
be indifferent. It is just to use every legitimate means for the en- 
largement of American trade ; but we seek no advantages in the 
Orient which are not common to all. Asking only the open door 
for ourselves, we are ready to accord the open door to others."' 
Among the American members of the commission there were sharp 
differences of opinion about the islands. When President McKinley 
was appealed to on October 25 to compose the differences by send- 
ing explicit instructions, he decided that the Philippines as a whole 
must be ceded to the United States. Some reasons which the Presi- 
dent might very well have adduced in support of this decision are 
stated as follows by Professor Latane: 



THE FRUITS OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 685 

The situation just at this time in China, which was on the point xxxn 

apparently of being partitioned out among the European powers 

to the exclusion of the United States, undoubtedly made a pro- 
found impression on the President and his cabinet; and the acqui- 
sition of the Philippines seemed to afford a good opportunity to 
secure a foothold in the East. This idea also dominated the larger 
business and commercial interests of the country, which were be- 
ginning to feel the reactionary effects of the Dingley tariff in the 
retaliatory measures adopted by Germany, France, and other 
countries of Europe ; and no mere abstract theory of government 
could be allowed to stand in the way of the opening of new markets 
in the Orient. Added to this was the religious motive : many 
clergymen and editors of religious papers agreed with the idea 
expressed by President McKinley that Providence had opened a 
way for the spread of American civilization in the East. For one 
reason or another the American people were gradually drifting 
into a current of sentiment which was soon overwhelmingly in 
favor of retaining the entire Philippine group. 

When the peace commission had finished its labors it had drawn The Treaty 
up a treaty with Spain which provided: (1) that Spain should 
relinquish all claim of sovereignty over Cuba, and that the United 
States should assume obligations for the protection of life and 
property on the island; (2) that Porto Rico, Guam, and the Philip- 
pines should be ceded to the United States; (3) that the civil and 
political rights of the inhabitants of the ceded territories should be 
determined by Congress. In consideration of the fact that the 
actual conquest of Manila had taken place after peace negotiations 
had been entered into, it was stipulated in the treaty that Spain 
should receive $20,000,000 for the Philippines. 

When the treaty reached the Senate on January 4, 1899, it en- f n h th^ reaty 
countered powerful opposition. The attack was directly chiefly Senate 
against the clause which provided for the acquisition of the Philip- 
pines. In assailing this provision some eminent Republican sena- 
tors, notably Hoar of Massachusetts and Hale of Maine, joined with 
most of the Democrats. Senator Hoar declared that to acquire and 
hold the Philippines was to violate the Declaration of Independence, 
the Constitution, and the whole spirit of American institutions. 
Moreover, the acquisition of foreign territory, he said, would lead 
us into competition with European powers and we should be 
tempted to join in the mad scramble for new lands that was going 



686 TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 



CHAP. 
XXXIF 



A Turning- 
point in 
American 
Policy 



The Piatt 
Amendment 



on at the time. Friends of the treaty were ready to defend it on 
altruistic grounds. American rule in the Philippines, they said, 
would spread American civilization over the islands with the result 
that the Filipinos would receive the benefit of a "benevolent as- 
similation." The opponents of the treaty did not share in this 
concern for the little brown men. "I care not for the Filipinos," 
said Senator Gorman, who led the fight against the treaty; "I care 
for my country." It was the general feeling in the Senate, how- 
ever, that it was better to vote for the treaty than to continue the 
war. This was the position taken by Bryan, who went to Wash- 
ington and used his personal influence in urging the acceptance of 
the treaty. It was his idea to ratify at once and thus secure peace, 
and to leave the status of the Philippines to be determined by the 
people at the next Presidential election. The discussion was pro- 
longed and animated, and to the very last moment ratification 
seemed doubtful. When the vote was taken, however, it stood 
fifty-seven for the treaty and twenty-seven against it. Ratification, 
therefore, was brought about by the narrow margin of one vote 
more than the required two thirds majority. 

The adoption of the treaty marked a turning point in our inter- 
national policy. The country had assumed responsibilities that 
made it impossible for it to cling any longer to its old self-centered 
habits. It must now go out in the world and take its place by the 
side of the other great powers and it must accommodate its foreign 
policy to a new order of things. "For better or for worse," says 
P. L. Haworth, "the United States dropped its traditional policy 
of isolation. . . . The restless energy that had conquered the con- 
tinent westward to the Pacific had now carried the flag beyond 
the narrow confines of the western hemisphere. Doubtfully, almost 
unwillingly, the nation fronted its fate, stooped to take up 'the 
White Man 's burden, ' and undertook to govern strange peoples. ' ' 

The first thing to be done was to determine the status of the 
several islands that had been taken from Spain and to provide 
suitable governments for them. Cuba presented no difficult prob- 
lems, for her status had already been declared by the terms of the 
intervention : 1 she was to enjoy independence. True to our pledge, 
the people of the island were allowed to establish for themselves a 
constitutional republic, but they were required to incorporate in 
their constitution what is known as the Piatt Amendment. This 

*See p. 680. 



THE FRUITS OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 687 

was a section inserted in an army appropriation bill defining the xxxh 

future relations that should exist between Cuba and the United ■ 

States. The most important provisions of the Piatt Amendment 
are: 

I. That the government of Cuba shall never enter into any 
treaty or other compact with any foreign power or powers which 
will impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba, nor in 
any manner authorize or permit any foreign power or powers to 
obtain by colonization or for military or naval purposes or other- 
wise, lodgment in or control over any portion of said island. 

II. That the said government shall not assume or contract any 
public debt, to pay the interest upon which, and to make reasonable 
sinking fund provision for the ultimate discharge of which, the 
ordinary revenues of the island, after defraying the current ex- 
penses of the government shall be inadequate. 

III. That the government of Cuba consents that the United 
States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of 
Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate 
for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for 
discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the 
treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and under- 
taken by the government of Cuba. 

Porto Rico, under the terms of the treaty, was to have its political Porto Rico 
status and the rights of its inhabitants determined by Congress. 
Accordingly in April, 1900, Congress passed the Foraker Act pro- 
viding a civil government for Porto Rico. Under this law the Porto 
Ricans were given a government different from anything to which 
Americans were accustomed. The executive branch was to be ap- 
pointed by the President; the legislative branch in part was to be 
appointed by the President and in part was to be elected by the 
voters of the island. The citizenship of the Porto Ricans was defined 
in terms that made it plain that Congress did not intend that these 
islanders should as yet be entitled to the full privileges of citizens 
of the United States. Under the law of 1900 the inhabitants of 
the island continuing to reside there were to be considered ' ' citizens 
of Porto Rico, and as such were to be entitled to the protection of 
the United States." In the eyes of American law, therefore, the 
Porto Rican was to be neither a citizen of the United States nor 
an alien. "He was left," says Professor Ogg, "like Mohammed's 
coffin, dangling between earth and heaven." Congress was con- 



688 TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 

xx'xn siderate of the Porto Ricans, however, and as the years passed its 
laws became more liberal. By 1917 it had conferred full citizen- 
ship upon the inhabitants of Porto Rico and had given the people 
of the island a very considerable share in the management of their 
government. 

Ag-uinaido By the terms of the treaty Congress was also to have full control 
in the Philippines. Here the first task for the new American mas- 
ters was to put down an uprising of the natives. The soul of the 
insurrection was Don Emilio Aguinaldo, who before the capture 
of Manila by the Americans had led a revolt against Spanish 
authority in the Philippines and had, on July 3, 1898, proclaimed 
a Filipino republic. When in December, 1898, President McKinley 
issued a proclamation asserting the "sovereignty" of the United 
States over the islands, Aguinaldo saw that the independence of his 
Filipino republic would not be recognized; and the relations of his 
troops with the American forces at once became strained. On the 
night of February 2, 1899 — two days before the ratification of the 
treaty, — a skirmish, begun by the shot of an American sentry, 
led to armed conflict between the forces of Aguinaldo and the 
American troops. For a while the Filipinos fought bravely, but 
of course with their antiquated rifles and wooden cannon they could 
not stand up long against the regular army of the United States. 
In November, 1899, Aguinaldo and his staff came to the con- 
clusion that further resistance in the field was useless. The insur- 
gent army was accordingly disbanded, but a guerrilla warfare was 
begun and was continued for more than two years. Not until July, 
1902, were the islands completely pacified. 

our Philip- By this time a little progress had been made in the way of 

pine Policy d L ° t ^ 

as Declared establishing a civil government for the Philippines. The general 
policy of Congress in respect to the government of the archipelago 
was declared in February, 1899, in the following resolution : 

Resolved . . . that by the ratification of the treaty of peace 1 
with Spain it is not intended to incorporate the inhabitants of 
the Philippine Islands into citizenship of the United States, no" 
is it intended to permanently annex said island as an integral part 
of the territory of the United States; but it is the intention of 
the United States to establish in said islands a government suit- 
able to the wants and conditions of the inhabitants of said islands, 
to prepare them for self-government, and in due time to make 
such disposition of said islands as will best promote the interests 



THE FRUITS OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 689 

of the citizens of the United States and the inhabitants of said £"4JV 
islands. 



The subsequent action of the American Government accorded America 
very well with the spirit of the resolution. Congress was in no Philippines 
hurry, however, to specify precisely the kind of government the 
Filipinos were to have, for the problem of governing nearly eight 
million people, ranging from savagery to civilization, divided into 
numerous tribes, and made up of many races, was not an easy one. 
That the solution was not to be found in self-government was the 
conclusion reached by an American commission which investigated 
conditions on the islands. The report of this commission, when 
touching upon the capacity of the Filipinos for self-government, 
said, "Their lack of education and political experience, combined 
with their racial and linguistic diversities, disqualify them, in spite 
of their mental gifts and domestic virtues, to undertake the task 
of governing the archipelago at the present time." Congress was 
content that for a while at least the islands should remain under 
military rule. On July 4, 1901, William H. Taft was inaugurated 
as civil governor. From this time the power of the military regime 
grew less and public affairs were administered more and more 
through the processes of civil government. In July, 1902, Congress 
passed an organic act for the government of the islands. In this 
law the inhabitants of the archipelago were declared to be "citizens 
of the Philippine Islands and as such entitled to the protection of 
the United States. ' ' The position of the Filipinos, therefore, could 
also be aptly compared to that occupied by the coffin of Mohammed. 
The law, however, extended to them most of the constitutional 
guarantees for the protection of life, liberty, and property. It 
vested the executive power of the island in a governor and vice- 
governor, and established four executive departments of the in- 
terior, of commerce and police, of finance and justice, and of public 
instruction. The legislative power was vested in a commission — 
"the Philippine commission" — consisting of eight members, the 
governor, the four heads of the executive departments, and three 
native Filipinos. All the executive officers and all the members 
of the commission were appointed by the President. The first legis- 
lature was, of course, no legislature at all, but provision was made, 
in the law of 1902, for the election of a popular assembly to be 
chosen as soon as certain conditions should be fulfilled. In 1907, 



690 TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 



CHAP. 
XXXII 



A "Big 
Brother" 



as the conditions had been complied with, the people of the islands 
for the first time elected their assembly. The legislature was thus 
a hybrid affair consisting of the commission and an elective lower 
branch. Under the liberal policy of Congress the democratic 
element in the legislature was allowed to grow stronger and 
stronger, with the result that by 1917 the Philippine legislature 
had come to consist of two elective branches, a senate and a house 
of representatives, the members of both houses being residents of 
the islands. The legislative power of this democratic body was 
now virtually complete, except that its measures could of course 
be annulled by the action of Congress. This was about as far as 
self-government on the islands could be allowed to go unless abso- 
lute independence should be granted. Even this precious boon was 
held out as an attainable thing, for Congress in 1916 declared it 
to be the purpose of the United States to give the Philippines their 
independence as soon as a stable government should be established. 
The treatment accorded to the Philippines in matters of govern- 
ment was only one aspect of a policy that was upon the whole en- 
lightened and liberal from the beginning. We did not go into the 
Philippines to exploit and oppress. Rather, acting like a "big 
brother," we tried to elevate them, and improve their condition. 
And we have done this : the Filipinos are better off for our having 
come among them. They have not yet secured their independence, 
but they will be given that when the proper time shall come. We 
kept the faith with the Cubans, and we shall keep it with the 
Filipinos. "We are trustees for the Filipino people," said Presi- 
dent Wilson, "and just as soon as we feel that they can take care 
of their own affairs without our direct interference and protection, 
the flag of the United States will again be honored by the fulfilment 
of a promise. ' ' 

Expansion and the Open Door 



Struggling 
for New 
Territory 



When we went into the Philippines we were bound to touch 
elbows not only with the Oriental countries but with several Euro- 
pean powers. During the latter part of the nineteenth century the 
great powers of Europe were seized with a desire for expansion 
that carried them into every portion of the globe. Especially waa 
this true of Great Britain, France, and Germany. Great Britain, 
which had already in the earlier part of the century established 
its rule in India, Australia, and New Zealand, was rapidly acquir- 



EXPANSION AND THE OPEN DOOR 691 

ing wide stretches of territory in Africa. France was also spread- "xxn 

ing its power over immense areas in Africa ; for the ' ' dark conti- 

nent," which Livingstone and Stanley were then bringing into the 
light, was becoming the richest of the prizes for which nations were 
struggling. Germany, too, began to take part in the wild scramble 
for new territory. Its first annexations were near at home. In 
1866 Prussia took possession of Schleswig-Holstein. Five years 
later at the close of the Franco-Prussian War Alsace-Lorraine was 
taken from France and annexed to the German Empire, which had 
just been proclaimed. In 1884 Germany embarked with great zeal 
upon a policy of colonization, and before many years had passed 
there were German colonies in Africa hundreds of thousands of 
square miles in extent. Thus at the opening of the twentieth cen- 
tury the most powerful nations of Europe were struggling for the 
possession of new territory in the backward and undeveloped 
countries, each nation trying to secure as much as possible of the 
best land that was still available for colonization. 

The great powers were reaching out for new markets as well as The 
for new land. At the time of our seizure of the Philippines the tionof a " 
Orient was the scene of intense rivalry between nations for the 
commercial exploitation of China. In the feverish struggle for 
the trade of this populous empire the European nations marked out 
for themselves "spheres of influence," extorted from a weak and 
incompetent government valuable concessions for mines and rail- 
ways, and even engaged in the grabbing of portions of Chinese 
territory. In 1897 two German missionaries were murdered in 
the province of Shan-tung. The outrage furnished a pretext for 
aggressive action on the part of Germany. German war-ships ap- 
peared at Kiao-chau, and demands were made for the surrender of 
the city, for a lease of Kiao-chau for ninety-nine years, and for the 
recognition of a German interest throughout the greater part of 
the Shan-tung peninsula. China could do nothing but yield; on 
March 8, 1898, all the demands were conceded. A few days later 
China, with the fear of Russian war-ships before her eyes, handed 
over Port Arthur to Russia to be held for a term of twenty-five 
years. By July, 1898, Great Britain had acquired rights in Wei- 
hai-wei similar to those of Russia in Port Arthur. France secured 
her share by occupying Kwang-chau Wan. Besides receiving ces- 
sions of territory, each nation designated for itself around its 
holdings a certain area, called a "sphere of influence," in which 



692 TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 



CHAP. 
XXXII 



The "Open 

Door" 

Policy 



The Boxer 
Rebellion 



extensive concessions were to be granted for mining operations and 
railway enterprises. Altogether, thirteen of the eighteen provinces 
of China were to a greater or less extent brought under the control 
of outside powers. 

Perceiving that the greed of the great powers was threatening 
the very integrity of the Chinese nation, the United States decided 
to take a hand in the matter. We did not want any part of the 
territory of China but we did want our share of her trade. With 
the view of protecting our commercial interests, John Hay, the 
secretary of state, announced what came to be known as the "open 
door" policy. "The policy of the Government of the United 
States, ' ' said the secretary, "is to seek a solution which may bring 
about permanent safety and peace to China, preserve Chinese terri- 
torial and administrative entity, protect all rights guaranteed to 
friendly powers by treaty and international law, and safeguard 
for the world the principle of equal and impartial trade with all 
parts of the Chinese Empire." In order to secure official recog- 
nition for the "open door" policy, Hay in September, 1899, 
addressed a circular note to Great Britain, Germany, and Russia 
requesting each of these powers to give assurances and make a 
formal declaration to the effect: (1) that it would not interfere 
with any treaty, port, or vested interest in its so-called "sphere of 
influence"; (2) that the Chinese tariff should apply equally to all 
goods shipped to ports in the "spheres" and should be collected 
by Chinese officials; (3) that there should be no discrimination 
against other foreigners in the matter of port dues or railroad rates. 
Similar notes were addressed at a later date to France, Italy, and 
Japan. Great Britain acceded to the request, but the other powers, 
while acknowledging the validity of the principles involved in the 
note, avoided committing themselves in a formal manner. Even 
though the move was only partially successful, Secretary Hay 
nevertheless informed each of the powers to which the note had 
been addressed that its acceptance of the proposals of the United 
States was considered "as final and definitive." This bold and 
adroit stroke of diplomacy had the effect of checking for a while, 
at least, the encroachments of which the American Government 
complained. 

In the summer of 1900 the situation in China demanded some- 
thing more drastic than diplomatic notes. The presence of so many 
foreigners in the Flowery Kingdom gave rise to an anti-alien sen- 



THE GOLD-STANDARD ACT 693 

timent which culminated in the Boxer Rebellion. The Boxers was xxxn 



a society organized ostensibly for the practice of athletics but 
really to rid China of the hated strangers who were crowding in 
upon her and bringing about her dismemberment. The watchword 
of the organization was "Exterminate the foreigners." In June, 
1900, armies of Boxers, encouraged by the empress dowager of 
China, closed in upon Peking. They seized the railroad which con- 
nected the city with the coast, severed telegraphic communications, 
and ordered all foreigners to leave within twenty-four hours. The 
German minister, Baron von Ketteler, was shot. The whole foreign 
colony, including a number of Americans, would probably have 
been murdered had it not found a refuge within the British lega- 
tion, which was converted into a kind of fortress. For nearly two 
months the foreigners were held imprisoned within the city and 
compelled to undergo many hardships. In August a strong force 
of soldiers and sailors furnished by the United States, Japan, Great 
Britain, France, and Russia moved upon Peking, made a breach 
in the walls, and rescued the besieged foreigners. In the work of 
relief our Government could take a leading part, for it could furnish 
promptly several thousand American troops who were readily avail- 
able by reason of our military occupation of the Philippines. As 
an indemnity for the injuries caused by the Boxer Rebellion the 
European nations would gladly have seized upon Chinese territory. 
But since the United States was opposed to the further partition 
of China a money reparation was agreed upon. The amount of 
the indemnity was fixed at $333,000,000, of which the United States 
was to get $24,000,000. It turned out that our share was much 
more than sufficient to satisfy all claims, and China was therefore 
relieved from the payment of about $11,000,000. This was an act 
of simple justice on our part, but it was so highly appreciated by 
China that her Government determined to use the fund in sending 
students to the United States to be educated. These kindly rela- 
tions were in keeping with the aims of our new international policy : 
we entered upon our career of expansion in the Orient with a desire 
for the friendship of China. 

The Gold-standard Act 

During the first three years of McKinley's administration inter- An influx 
national affairs received so much attention that domestic matters 
were almost forgotten. By 1900, however, the Republican leaders 



694 TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 

xxxn decided that it was time for Congress to take up the money ques- 

tion, the question which had brought their party into power in 

1896, but which had been shelved in order to make way for the 
tariff. 1 The march of events showed that the postponement of 
action on the silver question was good politics. By 1900 the pros- 
perity of the country was unprecedented. Money was flowing into 
the United States in great streams. The supply of gold from the 
mints had been greatly increased by the output which came from 
the newly discovered deposits of the Klondike region. New 
processes of reducing the ore resulted in a larger production of 
the yellow metal. An extraordinary demand from abroad for our 
foodstuffs caused an unusual amount of foreign gold to pour into 
our coffers. The excess of exports over imports was averaging 
about $560,000,000 a year. The money in circulation rose from 
about twenty-one dollars per capita in 1896 to nearly twenty-seven 
dollars in 1900. Economic conditions in 1900, therefore, were en- 
tirely different from those that prevailed at the time McKinley was 
inaugurated. It was accordingly possible to secure legislation on 
the monetary question that could not have been secured at an earlier 
date. 
The Gold- T n December, 1899, the President went to Congress with a recom- 

Standard ' ' ° 

Act mendation for a law that would make the gold standard secure. 

He did this with confidence, for there was now a majority against 
the free coinage of silver both in the House and in the Senate. In 
his message he said : ' ' The situation points to the present as the 
most fitting time to make adequate provision to insure the con- 
tinuance of the gold standard and of public confidence in the 
ability and purpose of the Government to meet all its obligations in 
the money which the civilized world recognizes as the best. ' ' Con- 
gress responded on March 14 with the Gold-standard Act of 1900. 
This law declared the gold dollar to be the standard unit of value, 
and provided that all forms of money issued or coined by the United 
States were to be maintained at a parity with gold. Legal-tender 
notes were to be redeemed in gold. The reserve for redemption 
purposes was to be increased to $150,000,000 and maintained, if 
necessary, by sales of 3 per cent gold bonds. The legal-tender 
quality of the silver dollar was to remain undisturbed by the law. 
Treasury notes of 1890 x were to be canceled as received and silver 

1 See p. 675. 
'See p. 630. 



REELECTION OF McKINLEY; HIS DEATH 695 

certificates substituted for them. The act also amended the xxxii 



National Banking Law 1 by providing for the organization of banks 
in places of 3000 inhabitants or less with a capital of $25,000 in- 
stead of $50,000, as formerly; and by allowing banks to issue cir- 
culation on the bonds deposited up to the par value of the bonds. 
Thus after a struggle of more than twenty years the battle between 
silver and gold was at last won by the yellow metal, for after the 
passage of the Gold-standard Act the friends of silver were never 
again able to score a victory of any importance 

Reelection of McKinley; His Death 

The Gold-standard Act was passed with the expectation that it ^BryYn 
would furnish the Republicans a talking-point in the campaign that Again 
was fast approaching. That President McKinley was to go before 
the country for a second term was a foregone conclusion. When 
the Republican convention met in Philadelphia he was unanimously 
nominated on the first ballot. Theodore Roosevelt, a member of 
the convention, was named as the candidate for Vice-President, 
receiving the votes of all the delegates except his own, which he 
refrained from casting. It was also a foregone conclusion that 
Bryan would again be nominated by the Democrats ; for despite the 
defeat he had suffered in 1896, and despite the opposition of many 
influential Democratic leaders, he was still the dominant figure of 
his party. At the Democratic national convention, which met in 
Kansas City, he was nominated for the Presidency by acclamation. 

The Republican platform asserted that the prosperty which the utterances 
country was enjoying was due to the McKinley administration; it 
renewed the allegiance of the party to the gold standard and to 
the principles of a protective tariff ; it declared that the acquisition 
of the Philippines and Porto Rico was a necessary result of our 
victories in the Spanish-American "War. On the trust question the 
platform recognized "the necessity and propriety of the honest 
cooperation of capital but condemned all conspiracies and combi- 
nations intended to restrict business, to create monopolies, to limit 
production or to curtail prices. ' ' This language of the Republican 
platform in reference to the trusts was characterized in the Demo- 
cratic platform "as dishonest paltering with the trust evil." The 
Democratic plank on trusts said : ' ' Existing laws against trusts 

1 See p. 489. 



696 TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 



CHAP. 
XXXII 



"The Full 
Dinner 
Pail" 
Campaign 



must be enforced, and more stringent ones must be enacted provid- 
ing for the publicity as to the affairs of corporations engaged in 
interstate commerce and requiring all corporations to show that 
they have no water in their stock and that they have not attempted 
to monopolize any branch of business or the production of any arti- 
cles of merchandise." In accordance with the wishes of Bryan, but 
against the wishes of many leaders, the Democratic platform de- 
clared for the free coinage of silver in terms as strong as those used 
in 1896. But free silver was not put to the front as the issue upon 
which the fight was to be made: the supreme question to be dis- 
cussed was "imperialism." "The importance of other questions 
now pending before the American people is in nowise diminished," 
said the Democratic platform, "and the Democratic party takes no 
backward step from its position in them ; but the burning issue of 
imperialism, growing out of the Spanish 'War, involves the very 
existence of the Republic and the destruction of our free institu- 
tions. We regard it as the paramount issue of the campaign." 

Bryan accordingly went out proclaiming imperialism as the 
supreme question of the day ; but this time he was unable to force 
the issue. It was Hanna's idea that the supreme question was 
prosperity and that the slogan of the Republicans should be the 
"full dinner-pail." So far as his party was concerned Hanna 
could have his way about the matter, for he was in full command. 
' ' We are both engineers, ' ' he said to the engineer of a train which 
was carrying him and a party of fellow-campaigners through 
Nebraska. "I run the Republican party and you run me." Since 
the "prosperity banner" was to be waved in every doubtful 
precinct in every doubtful State, a great deal of money would have 
to be collected for propaganda purposes. Here Hanna's services 
were as useful as they had been in 1896. But his comb in 1900 
did not have such fine teeth as the one he used four years before. 
In securing subscriptions he relied this time principally upon "big 
business." "The necessities of practical politics," says his biog- 
rapher, Herbert Croly, "brought him closer and closer to the 
representatives of large corporate interests. It was much more 
convenient to get money needed for an effective campaign from 
them than from a larger number of smaller subscribers. . . . Mr. 
Hanna wanted as usual to accomplish the largest and surest results 
with the utmost economy of time. So in 1900 he solicited and ob- 
tained support from Wall Street more explicitly and more exclu- 



REELECTION OF McKINLEY; HIS DEATH 697 

sively than he had in 1896." The result of this large-scale assess- xxxn 
ment was a campaign fund of $2,500,000. This was money enough 
and to spare. The prosperity idea was spread far and wide. 
McKinley was everywhere heralded as the promoter of good times, 
and voters had it dinned into their ears, morning, noon, and night, 
that they had best ''let well enough alone," and that a vote for the 
Republican ticket meant a "full dinner-pail." The appeal proved 
to be so effective and powerful that before the campaign closed the 
voters felt that the only question they had to decide was whether 
there should be hard times under the Democrats, or good times 
under the Republicans. Bryan made a brilliant 'and earnest cam- 
paign, but he failed to arouse any great interest or enthusiasm in 
the subject which he regarded paramount. The number of those 
who were really frightened by the prospect of imperialism was 
relatively small, and it was to little purpose that Bryan depicted 
the horrors of an imperialistic policy. He accordingly led a for- 
lorn hope; the whole trend of things was entirely unfavorable to 
a change in administration. The election resulted in an easy vic- 
tory for the Republicans. McKinley received 292 electoral votes 
and a popular vote of 7,219,525. Bryan's electoral vote was 155 
and his popular vote 6,358,737. 

President McKinley entered upon his second term with every "isolation 
prospect for a successful administration. His personal popularity Possible" 
was now very great. In the spring of 1901 he made a tour through 
the South and West, extending the trip to the Pacific coast. Wher- 
ever he went he was received with every expression of popular 
favor. In the autumn he made a speech which if it had been 
delivered ten years before would have shocked the political sensi- 
bilities of his hearers, but which in 1901 was in harmony with the 
prevailing sentiment of the country. In this speech he called 
attention to the new position which the United States had assumed 
among the nations and outlined a foreign policy for the future 
guidance of statesmen. "Isolation," he said, "is no longer pos- 
sible or desirable. God and man have linked the nations together. 
No nation can be longer indifferent to any other. . . . Only a broad 
and enlightened policy will keep what we have. No other policy 
will get more. Reciprocity is the natural growth of our wonderful 
industrial development. What we produce beyond our domestic 
consumption must have a vent abroad. We should sell everywhere 
we can and buy wherever the buying will enlarge our sales and 



698 



TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 



CHAP. 
XXXII 



productiveness. The period of exclusiveness is past. The expan- 
sion of our trade and commerce is the pressing problem. Com- 
mercial wars are unprofitable. A policy of good-will and friendly- 
trade relations will prevent reprisals . . . our real eminence rests 
in the victories of peace and not in those of war." 

This remarkable speech was delivered on September 5 at Buffalo, 
where the President was visiting the Pan-American Exhibition. 
On the day after its delivery the American people were startled 
and horrified by the news that their President had been shot. While 
holding a public reception he was fired upon by a man who called 
himself an anarchist. At first there were strong hopes that the 
President would recover, but his wounds were mortal. On Sep- 
tember 14 he died. His death brought sorrow to every home in the 
land. Of the three Presidents who were victims of assassins' bullets 
McKinley was perhaps the best beloved. "The full appreciation 
of Lincoln's character," says Edward Stanwood, "came after his 
death. Garfield was greatly honored and respected, and his long 
fight against death brought him very near to the hearts of the 
American people. But McKinley 's kindly and homely character 
rendered him an object of general affection. People of every party 
and of every religious persuasion observed the day of his funeral 
with devotional and memorial services in thousands of churches, 
and the mourning was deep and universal." 

On the afternoon of the day before President McKinley 's death 
a message was brought to the Vice-President, Theodore Roosevelt, 
informing him that President McKinley had but a few hours to 
live. At the time the message was received Roosevelt was on a 
tramping trip in the Adirondack Mountains. As soon as he heard 
the news he started for Buffalo. He was thirty miles from the 
nearest railway station, the journey to which had to be made over 
rough mountain country through darkness and rain. When the 
station was reached about daybreak on the following day, a tele- 
gram was given him informing him that the President was dead. 
He hurried on to Buffalo as fast as the fastest express could carry 
him, and, before the day ended, he had taken the oath of office and 
had assumed the duties of the Presidency. 

The man who succeeded McKinley was one of the most active, 
robust, and picturesque characters that had appeared in American 
public life. His biography up to the time he became President has 
been summarized as follows: 



REELECTION OF McKINLEY; HIS DEATH 699 

Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth President of the United chap. 
States, was born in the city of New York, October 27, 1858. His xxx " 
ancestors on the paternal side were of an old Dutch family, and 
on the maternal side, of Scotch-Irish descent. His early education 
was received under private tuition. He was graduated from Har- 
vard College in 1880, and spent the following year in study and 
travel. From 1882 to 1884 he was a member of the Assembly of 
the State of New York as an independent Republican, and gained 
a wide reputation for his work for political reform, particularly 
in the field of the civil service. In 1884 he was chairman of the 
New York delegation to the National Republican Convention, and 
two years later was an unsuccessful candidate as an independent 
Republican for the office of Mayor of New York. He was made a 
member of the National Civil Service Commission by President 
Harrison in 1889, and served as president of the board until May, 
1895, when he resigned to become president of the board of Police 
Commissioners of the city of New York. In 1897 he was made 
Assistant Secretary of the Navy by President McKinley, but on 
the breaking out of the Spanish-American War, in 1898, he re- 
signed and organized the First United States Volunteer Regiment 
of Cavalry, popularly known as the "Rough Riders," of which he 
was made lieutenant-colonel. He was attached to the army of 
General Shafter, for the invasion of Cuba, and participated in 
every engagement preceding the fall of Santiago. He won dis- 
tinction at the Battle of San Juan Hill, on July 1, 1898, and was 
promoted to the rank of colonel on July 11, for conspicuous 
bravery in action. He received the nomination for governor of 
New York on the Republican ticket, September 27, 1898, and was 
elected by a large plurality. At the Republican National Con- 
vention held in Philadelphia, in June, 1900, he was nominated for 
Vice-President of the United States . . . and was elected. 1 

The new President, as soon as he had taken the oath of office, 
said to the members of McKinley 's cabinet who stood around him : 
"In this hour of national bereavement I wish to state that it shall 
be my intention and endeavor to continue absolutely unbroken the 
policy of President McKinley, for the peace and prosperity of our 
beloved country." 

1 "Messages and Papers of the Presidents" ; Vol. IX, p. 6637. 



700 TAKING A HAND IN OLD-WORLD AFFAIRS 



CHAP. Suggested Readings 



Imperialism: Stanwood, Vol. II, pp. 1-75; Lingley, pp. 401-423; Haworth, 

pp. 257-277. 
Intervention in Cuba : Latan6, pp. 3-28. 
Battle of Santiago : Hitchcock, pp. 357-376. 
Philippine insurrection : Latane\ pp. 82-99. 
Dingley Tariff : Taussig, pp. 321-360. 



XXXIII 

THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 

Roosevelt and the Trusts 

AT no time in our history were commerce and industry in a 
more flourishing condition than they were when President 
Roosevelt took his place at the head of affairs. The prosperity was 
indeed so great that President McKinley in his speech at Buffalo 
had been constrained to call it "appalling." Yet in the world of 
business things were not moving along in a way to please the 
average citizen. The disquieting element was the trusts. These 
at the opening of the twentieth century were being formed on a 
scale that made the combinations of the eighties \ look like pygmies 
by comparison. Between 1898 and 1904 two hundred and thirty-six 
combinations were established with a capitalization of more than 
six billions of dollars. Of all the aggregations the most stupendous American 

, Business 

was the United States Steel Corporation. This company, organized Trust- 
in April, 1901, was essentially a holding company having possession 
of the stock of several subsidiary companies. Most of the subsidiary 
companies were themselves industrial giants, for among them were 
the Carnegie Co., the Federal Steel Co., the American Steel & 
Wire Co., the American Tin Plate Co., and other colossal corpora- 
tions. In most cases each of the subsidiary companies had a 
number of manufacturing plants distributed at various points as 
well as such properties as ore companies, dock companies, railroad 
companies, gas companies, and the like. "The United States Steel 
Corporation, when formed, had steel works with an annual capacity 
of 9,400,000 tons of crude steel, 1000 miles of railway, 112 lake ore 
vessels, iron ore deposits estimated to contain from 500,000,000 to 
700,000,000 tons of ore, and more than 50,000 acres of high grade 
coal lands and numerous related properties. The total number of 
plants under the control of the corporation exceeded 200." The 
1 See p. 596. 

701 



ridden 



702 THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 

xxvfii capitalization of the new company was a little more than $1,400,- 
000,000. Of this something like $600,000,000 was "water." 

By 1902 concentration had gone so far that American business 
was trust ridden. Thousands were being driven to the wall by 
the ruthless competition of the trusts, and millions were feeling 
the pinch of monopoly prices. It was about this time that prices 
began to rise and the cost of living began its upward trend. Nearly 
one third of all industries, excluding that of agriculture, had been 
brought under the control of trusts. One trust controlled 75 per 
cent of the steel industry ; another sold 90 per cent of the sugar 
output; another refined 75 per cent of the oil; another manufac- 
tured 75 per cent of the paper. Consolidation was gaining ground 
and nothing was being done to halt it. "Presidents Harrison, 
Cleveland, and McKinley," says F. A. Ogg, "were not fitted by 
training or conviction to wage contest with the powerful corporate 
interests opposed to the enforcement of the law [the Sherman Law] ; 
and the interests of their attorney-generals did not run in this 
direction. Under Harrison there were only three indictments, and 
under Cleveland two. Under McKinley there were none. ' ' Neither 
the Sherman Law nor the anti-trust laws passed by the several 
States had succeeded in putting the slightest curb upon monopoly. 
"If there is any serious student in our economic life," said Pro- 
fessor Ely in 1899, "who believes that anything substantial has 
been gained by all the laws passed against trusts, . . . this author- 
ity has yet to be heard from. Forms and names have been changed 
in many instances, but the dreaded work of the vast aggregation of 
capital has gone on as before." 
"Good" President Roosevelt was keenly alive to the economic situation, 

"B U a S d" and and, unlike his predecessors, he took the matter seriously. In his 
messages he always dwelt at length on the subject of trusts, and 
he went before the people and expressed himself about them in a 
fashion that alarmed the great financiers. In Providence he said 
in 1902: "The great corporations which we have grown to speak 
of rather loosely as trusts are the creatures of the State, and the 
State not only has the right to control them but is in duty bound to 
control them wherever the need of such control is shown. It is idle 
to say there is no need for such supervision. There is." But the 
President was not for striking at the trusts in a heedless or violent 
fashion. He was with those who believed that the trust was in a 
measure a natural development, and that it should be dealt with in 



Trusts 



ROOSEVELT AND THE TRUSTS 703 

a very cautious manner. He was not against big business simply chap 

because it was big. The question was not whether a trust was big 

or little but whether it was good or bad. The good trust should be 
let alone even though it was as big as all outdoors, but the bad 
trust, whether big or little, should be made to feel the hand of the 
law. It was quite in the way of the President to look at problems 
on their moral side, but when it was proposed to ascribe moral 
qualities to such a thing as a trust the minds of many hard-headed 
men were overcome with doubt. How, it was asked, could a trust 
have a moral nature when a corporation had no soul? Said "The 
Nation," when referring to the President's classification of trusts: 
"If the trusts are founded on a dangerous principle, if they 
operate on methods repugnant to our traditions of equity and of 
law, then they are all bad. If on the contrary, their foundation is 
legal, and their methods equitable, they are all good. To try to 
mark off the good trusts from the bad when you have once conceded 
that their principle is wrong is like talking of good and bad tyranny, 
good and bad oppression, good and bad slavery." 

The President, however, did something more than moralize about Publicity 
good trusts and bad trusts. There were, he said, real and grave 
evils connected with trust management, and a resolute and practical 
effort ought to be made to correct those evils. In dealing with the 
problem he would begin with publicity, an idea advanced by the 
Democrats in their platform at the previous election. The first step 
to take, he said, was to get a knowledge, full and complete — 
knowledge which might be made public to the world. At his 
recommendation, Congress, in 1903, created the Department of 
Commerce and established therein a bureau of corporations, arming 
it with authority to inquire into the history and practices of trusts 
and to make reports of its findings. In his crusade for publicity 
the President had no idea of attacking the trusts : all he wanted to 
do was to purge them of evil. "The legislation," he said in his 
"Autobiography," "was characterized throughout by the idea that 
we were not attacking corporations, but endeavoring to provide for 
doing away with any evil in them; that we drew the line against 
misconduct, not against wealth ; gladly recognizing the great good 
done by the capitalist, who alone or in conjunction with his fellows, 
does his work along proper and legitimate lines. . . .The purpose 
of the legislation was to favor such a man when he does well, and 
to supervise his action only to prevent him from doing ill. ' ' The 



704 THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 

xxxni bureau of corporations went about its task of furnishing the 

desired publicity with great enthusiasm. The activity of its chief, 

Herbert Knox Smith, was so marked that he came to be known 
as the " trust-buster. " But there was always just a little derision 
in this appellation, for the impotency of publicity to ' ' bust ' ' trusts 
was soon discovered. President Roosevelt, of course, never sup- 
posed that publicity alone would solve the trust problem. Publicity 
was to be only the first step in trust regulation. Since the next 
step would have to be taken by Congress, he urged that body for 
several years to consider the evils of the industrial situation and to 
pass the necessary remedial laws. But the lawmakers failed to 
take action. At last the President came forward with specific 
recommendations of his own. In his message of December, 1907, 
he said : ' ' The Anti-Trust Law should be made more efficient and 
more in harmony with actual conditions. It should be so amended 
as to forbid only the kind of combination which does harm to the 
general public. . . . The Congress has the power to charter cor- 
porations to engage in interstate and foreign commerce, and a 
general law can be enacted under the provisions of which existing 
corporations could take out Federal charters and new Federal 
corporations could be created. If an incorporation law is not 
deemed advisable, a license act for big interstate corporations 
might be enacted ; or a combination of the two might be tried. . . . 
At least the Anti-Trust Act should be supplemented by specific 
prohibitions of the methods which experience has shown have been 
of most service in enabling monopolistic combinations to crush out 
competition. ' ' To this recommendation Congress gave no response. 
It persisted in its policy of inaction, with the result that the trust 
problem on its legislative side wore much the same aspect at the 
end of the Roosevelt administrations that it had worn at the 
beginning. 
TJ>e If the President could not get new power he could at least use 

Sherman 

Law , the power he already had : he could arouse from its slumbers the 

Aroused 

from its Sherman Anti-Trust Law. He instructed his attornev-general, 

.Slumbers . . . 

Philander C. Knox, to proceed against the Northern Securities Co., 
which had been organized with the view of merging the interests 
of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific railroads in such a way 
as to destroy competition between the two lines. It was the 
President's wish that the suit should be pressed with all possible 
earnestness. "No suit," he said when referring to the movement 



ROOSEVELT AND THE TRUSTS 705 

of the Government against the trusts, ''will be undertaken for the ^jj- 

sake of seeming to undertake it, and when a suit is undertaken it 

will not be compromised except on the basis that the Government 
wins. ' ' In this spirit the attorney-general carried forward the case 
against the Northern Securities Co. The result was a victory for 
the Government : in March, 1904, the Supreme Court by a five-to- 
four vote declared that the company, organized as it was, would 
destroy every motive for competition between the roads engaged 
in interstate traffic, and that therefore the merger constituted a 
violation of the Sherman Law. The Northern Securities Co. was 
therefore forced to dissolve. The decision created consternation in 
Wall Street, for it pointed to the wreckage of hundreds of illegal 
combinations. But the apprehensions of the captains of finance 
were allayed by the prompt assurance of the attorney-general that 
the Government in its prosecution of the trusts did not intend to 
"run amuck." Further suits were brought, but there was no 
cutting or slashing. In a few important cases the Government 
won, but no heavy fines were collected and no offenders were 
imprisoned under the criminal clause of the Anti-Trust Law. 1 In 
the trial of cases the defendants availed themselves of the "law's 
delays" to the fullest extent. A suit against the Tobacco Trust 
was begun in 1907 but was not finished until 1911 ; that against the 
Standard Oil was begun in 1906 and finished five years later ; that 
against the Powder Trust was filed in 1907 but a final decision was 
not reached until 1912. Thus some of the most important suits 
begun while Roosevelt was President reached a final decision in the 
next administration. 

Regarded from the economic point of view the Roosevelt cam- The Effect 
paign against the trusts did not amount to much. It had little or Anti-trust 
no effect in the way of putting a curb upon monopoly, for during ampaign 
the very years in which it was being conducted the total capitali- 
zation of the trusts. increased by several billions of dollars. Upon 
the conduct of corporation officials it may perhaps have had an 
influence that was in some degree salutary, but, by and large, its 
principal effect upon the trust magnates was simply to make them 
more cautious in their methods of working out their monopolistic 
schemes. But measured by its political results the campaign had 
considerable significance. As it was warmly approved by the 
people, it made Roosevelt more popular than ever ; and this meant 
1 See p. 634. 



706 



THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 



CHAP. 
XXXIII 



that it brought strength to the .Republican party. Although 
Republican leaders were irritated by the President's action, they 
were nevertheless glad to see him grow in popular favor, for his 
popularity helped to keep them and their party in power. 



Roosevelt and the Coal Strike 



The 

Collective 

Bargain 



The 

Anthracite 
Coal Strike 



Before Roosevelt had been in office a year a fresh access of 
popularity came to him from the ranks of organized labor. This 
now meant a great deal to a public man ; for the labor movement, 
which had kept equal step with capital in the matter of organiza- 
tion, had acquired a tremendous momentum. At the opening of 
the twentieth century more than 2,000,000 wage-earners were en- 
rolled in labor-unions of one kind or another. One union alone had 
the enormous membership of 300,000. 

A chief outgrowth of the later and larger trade-union was the 
collective bargain. When the day came for working-men to make 
their bargains in regard to wages and hours they took up the matter 
feeling that they had the strength of a great organization behind 
them. Their representatives met in conference with the employers, 
and there was higgling as to wages and hours and working con- 
ditions; and when a bargain was struck it bound all parties, 
including every employee belonging to the organization and every 
employer who was a party to the compact. In some instances this 
collective bargaining was conducted upon a vast scale ; agreements 
were entered into that affected not only a single establishment but 
whole industries. So long as the collective agreement was possible 
there was industrial peace, but when it failed there was industrial 
war: either the employers — perhaps those of an entire industry — 
closed the doors of their establishments upon their employees as a 
body, or the employees in a body left their work. 

In the spring of 1902 the miners in the anthracite coal fields of 
Pennsylvania, who had failed to come to an agreement with their 
employers through methods of collective bargaining, threw down 
their picks ; and there followed an industrial war which became 
such a menace to the entire country that President Roosevelt 
thought it necessary to take a hand in it. The miners were members 
of the United Mine Workers of America, an organization consisting 
of nearly 150,000 men. At the head of the miners was John 
Mitchell, a man who had himself worked in the mines. Mitchell 



ROOSEVELT AND THE COAL STRIKE 707 

was the ablest leader that had yet emerged from the ranks of labor, chap.^ 

His self-control was perfect. His opponents might call him the 

worst of names and shower upon him all kinds of abuse, yet he 
could not be provoked to bitterness or retort. His utterances were 
statesmanlike, and his leadership inspired the confidence and won 
the affection of the miners. Opposed to the miners was the Coal 
Trust, whose chief spokesman was George F. Baer, the president 
of the Reading Co. The miners wished to submit their claims to 
arbitration, but their offer was bluntly rejected by Baer, who said 
there was nothing to arbitrate. "Anthracite mining," he said, "is 
a business; not a religious, sentimental, or academic proposition." 
The mine-owners, relying upon their resources, hoped to tire the 
miners out. On September 28 Senator Hanna, after he had had 
an interview with Baer in reference to a settlement of the strike, 
said : "It looks as if it was only to be settled when the miners are 
starved out. ' ' But no settlement, the senator went on to say, could 
be expected soon, for the miners were receiving large sums of 
money. The mine workers voted $2,000,000 a month for the sup-* 
port of the strikers. The strike dragged on through the summer 
and far into the autumn. The price of coal soared higher and 
higher : in some places it was $30 a ton ; in many places it could not 
be bought at any price. The poor suffered, and schools and 
hospitals had to go without fire. 

Early in October President Roosevelt decided that he must try to ^° c ° s t e h v e elt 
end the strike. He invited Mitchell and the coal barons to a con- Coal strike 
ference in Washington with the view of persuading them to com- 
pose their differences. He reminded them that they were not the 
only parties concerned; that the interests of the American people 
were also involved in the dispute. "In my judgment," he said to 
them, "the situation imperatively requires that you meet upon 
the common plane of the necessities of the public. With all the 
earnestness there is in me, I ask that there be an immediate 
resumption of operations in the coal-mines, in some such way as 
will without a day's unnecessary delay meet the crying needs of 
the people." Mitchell was quick to suggest that the claims of the 
miners be submitted to a board of arbitration appointed by the 
President. This proposition was flatly rejected by the mine- 
owners, who suggested that it was not arbitration that was needed 
but cold lead; the President ought to send Federal troops to the 
coal fields. As a deadlock had thus been reached, the conference 



708 



THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 



CHAP. 
XXXIII 



adjourned without, as it seemed, having accomplished anything. 
But in fact it had accomplished a great deal. It had made it 
perfectly plain that public opinion was on the side of the miners. 
When the news went out that the coal magnates had refused to 
arbitrate there arose a storm of popular indignation that meant 
that they must arbitrate. Other conferences were held and various 
proposals were considered, but the iron will of Mitchell prevented 
the acceptance of any plan that did not provide for the principle 
of arbitration. After nearly two weeks of holding back the coal 
barons at last bowed to the inevitable. On October 13 they made a 
formal offer to the President to submit the dispute to a commission 
of five men to be appointed by the President; and the offer was 
accepted by Mitchell on behalf of the miners. Thus a strike which 
had lasted for five months and had entailed a loss of $100,000,000 
was brought to an end. Work in the mines was promptly resumed 
and soon the people were able to get the coal for which they were 
suffering. In due time the arbitration commission brought in a 
decision favorable in the main to the miners. 

In taking steps to end the strike President Roosevelt acted as a 
private citizen, for his intervention had no sanction in law. "I 
disclaim," he said, "any right or duty to intervene in this way 
upon legal grounds or upon any official relation that I -bear to the 
situation." Yet he felt that public opinion would be on his side, 
and in this he was not mistaken. He received the unstinted praise 
of a great majority of the American people. His intervention, as 
interpreted by the average man, was a blow at the great capitalists 
and for the working-men. It was, therefore, doubly popular. 



The Panama Canal; Foreign Affairs 



The 

Importance 
of an 
Isthmian 
Canal 



President Roosevelt had a tremendous reputation for "doing 
things." An act which must have contributed greatly to a repu- 
tation of this kind was the building of the Panama Canal. The 
idea of constructing a ship-canal between the Atlantic and Pacific 
oceans occurred to navigators as soon as the form of the western 
continents became known. As early as 1527 a survey was made 
for a canal route from Chagres to Panama. We have seen 1 that 
the importance of an isthmian canal was fully recognized during 
the rush to California. During the Spanish-American War the 

1 See p. 353. 



THE PANAMA CANAL; FOREIGN AFFAIRS 709 

long voyage of the Oregon around Cape Horn impressed upon the xxxni 

popular mind the importance of a canal from a naval point of 

view. After we entered upon our policy of expansion it seemed 
that an interoceanic canal was almost a political and commercial 
necessity. Accordingly in 1899 a commission was appointed by 
Congress to determine the most feasible route for an isthmian canal. 
The report of this commission was upon the whole favorable to the 
Panama route. 

Before the construction of the canal could be undertaken several ^| k ^f y 
perplexing problems had to be solved. In the first place there was Clear 
already on the scene a canal company which had to be reckoned 
with. In 1881 a French company organized by Ferdinand de 
Lesseps began to dig a canal across the Isthmus of Panama, but 
his undertaking failed and by 1889 his company had collapsed. It 
was succeeded, however, by the new Panama Canal Co. which was 
organized in 1897. Before the United States could build the canal 
the property and rights of this new company would have to be 
secured. There were also diplomatic obstacles to overcome. Ac- 
cording to the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, if the United States should 
undertake to build the canal Great Britain would have to be a party 
to the undertaking. 1 But in time public opinion began to frown 
upon this arrangement, and by 1880 the American people were 
doubtless in accord with President Hayes when he said: "The 
policy of this country is a canal under American control. The 
United States cannot consent to the surrender of this control to any 
European power or to any combination of European powers. . . . 
An interoceanic canal across the American Isthmus will essentially 
change the geographical relations between the United States and 
the rest of the world. It would be the great ocean thoroughfare 
between our Atlantic and our Pacific shores, and virtually a part of 
the coast line of the United States. Our merely commercial interest 
in it is greater than that of all other countries, while its relations to 
our power and prosperity as a nation, to our means of defense, our 
unity, peace, and safety, are matters of paramount concern to the 
people of the United States. ' ' And this was the American view in 
1901 when the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty was ratified. This expressly 
abrogated the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and acknowledged the ex- 
clusive right of the United States to build, operate and maintain a 
canal, the only important limitation being that the canal must be 

*See p. 353. 



710 THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 

xxxm open to the vessels of all nations "on terms of entire equality." 
The way had now been made clear so far as Great Britain was 
concerned, and the next thing to be done was to determine the route 
of the proposed canal. There was a strong movement in favor of a 
Nicaraguan Canal, but in June, 1902, Congress authorized the 
selection of the Panama route and the purchase of the claims of the 
new Panama Canal Co. 

The Trouble The canal project was now largely in the President's hands, and 

with Co- 
lombia it was carried forward with all possible expedition. The Panama 

Canal Co. was offered $40,000,000 for its property rights in the 

unfinished canal, and negotiations for a right of way across the 

isthmus were begun with Colombia, the nation to which the Isthmus 

of Panama belonged. By January, 1903, the Hay-Herran Treaty 

had been signed, by the terms of which the United States agreed to 

pay Colombia $10,000,000 cash and an annuity of $250,000 for 

the lease of a strip of land six miles wide across the isthmus. The 

treaty was ratified in March, 1903, by the United States Senate, but 

when it was brought before the Colombian senate it was rejected 

by a unanimous vote. A little later Colombia let it be known that 

a new treaty would be ratified if the United States would pay the 

sum of $25,000,000 instead of the proposed $10,000,000. The 

rejection of the Hay-Herran Treaty alarmed the new Panama 

Canal Co. It was afraid that the United States might turn away 

from Panama and build the canal across Nicaragua, in which case 

it would not get its $40,000,000. Its agents therefore did what 

they could to stir up trouble between Colombia and Panama. It 

was not hard to do this, for the people of the isthmus wanted the 

canal, and they resented deeply what the Colombian Government 

had done. In October there was a movement in Panama to secede 

from Colombia and establish an independent republic. This Avas 

precisely what President Roosevelt desired. "Privately," he wrote 

to a friend on October 10, "I freely say to you that I should be 

delighted if Panama were an independent state, or if it made itself 

so at this moment; but for me to say so publicly would amount to 

an instigation of a revolt, and therefore I cannot say it." It was 

not necessary for the President to instigate a revolt, for that was 

being done by others. But he could support a revolution if one 

should come ; and one did come a little sooner than was expected. 

On November 3 there was an uprising on the isthmus which 

resulted in the killing of a Chinaman and a dog. The leaders of 



THE PANAMA CANAL; FOREIGN AFFAIRS 711 

the revolt immediately organized a government for the republic of xxxni 

Panama. Physical conditions prevented Colombia from sending 

troops by land to put down the revolution, and she could not send J^^ " 
any by water for orders were cabled to the commanders of Ameri- Panama 
can warships that had arrived off Colombia the day before the 
revolution to "prevent the landing of any armed force with hostile 
intent, either Government or insurgent, at any point within fifty 
miles of Panama." Even if Colombian troops had appeared upon 
the scene they would not have been allowed to disturb the revo- 
lutionists, for American marines were present to prevent any 
fighting. Two days after the revolutionary government was set 
up it was recognized by the American Government. Philippe 
Bunau-Varilla, who had been an engineer of the Panama Canal Co., 
was accredited at Washington as minister of the new republic. 
Secretary of State John Hay and Bunau-Varilla at once began to 
arrange for a treaty covering the question of a canal. How hot- 
footed was the haste which -characterized the movements of the 
Government at Washington is revealed in a private letter written 
by Secretary Hay on November 19, 1903: "Yesterday morning 
the negotiations with Panama were far from complete. But by 
putting on all steam, getting Root and Knox and Shaw together at 
lunch, I went over my project line by line, and fought out every 
section of it; adopted a few good suggestions; hurried back to the 
Department, set everybody at work drawing up final drafts — sent 
for Varilla, went over the whole treaty with him, explained all the 
changes, got his consent, and at seven o 'clock signed the momentous 
document." The treaty when finished provided that the United The Treaty 

J l , with 

States should guarantee the independence of the Panama Republic, Panama 
and that in return Panama should grant to the United States in 
perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of a zone of land ten 
miles wide for the construction of a canal, the United States re- 
ceiving as full power and authority over the strip as if it were the 
sovereign of the territory. The United States further agreed to 
pay the republic of Panama the sum of $10,000,000 upon the 
exchange of ratifications and the sum of $250,000 a year beginning 
nine years thereafter. The treaty was ratified by the United States 
Senate on February 23, 1904, by a vote of sixty-six to fourteen. 
Thus we looked on with a sympathetic eye while the revolution 
was hatched, and when the toy republic was set up we dictated to 
its Government what we wanted in the way of canal rights. The 



712 



THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 



The 

Germany- 
Venezuela 
Incident 



President's course was severely criticized, but he defended it on 
the ground that Colombia had no right to "bar the transit of the 
world's traffic" across the isthmus, and on the further ground that 
an existing treaty negotiated in 1846 between New Granada (after- 
ward Colombia) and the United States justified what he had done 
in the way of intervention. Colombia of course thought she was 
treated badly. That she had some right to think so was virtually, 
although not formally, admitted by the United States Senate in 
1921 when that body voted her a compensatory payment of 
$25,000,000. 

After the ratification of the Bunau-Varilla Treaty the task of 
building the canal was taken up in earnest. The Panama Canal Co. 
received its $40,000,000, and preparations were made for making 
"the dirt fly." After a great deal of discussion a lock type of 
canal was agreed upon. At first the canal workers suffered from 
the ravages of yellow fever and malaria. But under the direction 
of Colonel William C. Gorgas a systematic war was waged against 
the insanitary conditions which prevailed along the line of the 
canal, with the result the zone was transformed into a healthful 
region. For a time, too, there were drawbacks due to mismanage- 
ment. In 1907, however, Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Goethals 
was made chief engineer, and after this the enterprise moved 
forward more smoothly and rapidly. At the close of 1912 about 
40,000 laborers were at work upon the canal. Three years later it 
was opened to the ships of the world. The quest begun by the 
ships of Columbus for a short route to the Indies was at last 
crowned with success. Vessels that had taken a month to make 
the voyage around the Horn could now pass through the canal in 
ten or twelve hours, The opening of the new waterway was cele- 
brated in a fitting manner by holding in San Francisco the Panama- 
Pacific Exposition. 

Although the outstanding incident in our foreign relations during 
the Roosevelt administrations was the controversy with Colombia 
over the canal project, there were nevertheless several .other 
important international questions that engaged the attention of 
the State Department. One of these involved the application of the 
Monroe Doctrine to a situation which arose in Venezuela. As that 
republic had failed to meet its financial obligations to certain sub- 
jects of Great Britain and Germany, those countries in 1902 pro- 



THE PANAMA CANAL; FOREIGN AFFAIRS 713 

ceeded to blockade some of the Venezuelan ports, with the view of xxxni 
securing the payment of the debts by the use of force. Through 
the mediation of the American Government Venezuela agreed to 
submit the case to arbitration. Great Britain accepted this plan 
and withdrew her ships. Germany, however, remained obdurate, 
being unwilling to relinquish the advantage which the blockade 
seemed to promise. President Roosevelt, fearing that Germany 
was planning to occupy territory in Venezuela and thus run 
counter to the Monroe Doctrine, decided to force the issue. He 
told the German ambassador at Washington that if the emperor 
failed to agree to arbitration within ten days, he would send the 
American fleet to Venezuelan waters to see that the German forces 
did not take possession of any territory. There was no swagger in 
the President's ultimatum, for the American navy at the time was 
more than a match for the German navy, and it was near at hand in 
West Indian waters available for immediate action. For several 
days the kaiser held firm, but about twenty-four hours before the 
ultimatum expired word came from Berlin that Germany would 
accept arbitration. Thus again a great power of Europe " retired 
amid the thunders of the Monroe Doctrine. ' ' x This time, however, 
the thunder was not heard by the public, for more than a dozen 
years elapsed before the full story of the Venezuelan incident was 
given to the world. 2 

Respect for the Monroe Doctrine also led President Roosevelt to ^ e t r ;" on 
intervene in the affairs of Santo Domingo. In 1904 this little island ^^g°c 
republic found itself bankrupt, with certain nations, notably 
France, Belgium, and Italy, pressing hard for the payment of the 
interest on their claims. The only practicable method of collecting 
the interest was for the claimant nations to seize the custom-houses 
of the island and collect the customs duties. President Roosevelt, 
fearing that such seizure would result in the occupation of Ameri- 
can territory by a European power, boldly placed the bankrupt 
Dominican Republic in the hands of a receiver, the United States 
acting as the receiver and taking over the administration of the 
national finances. The arrangement was that the United States 
should take charge of the custom-houses, collect the customs, turn 

*See p. 333. 

a "Life and Letters of John Hay," by W. R. Thayer ; also "North American 
Review," September, 1919. 



714 THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 

xxxiii over ^ P er cen * *° Santo Domingo, and put the remainder into 

a sinking-fund for the benefit of the creditors. Here was an 

extension of the Monroe Doctrine that caused the world to open its 
eyes. The practical effect of the new policy was to make Uncle Sam 
a kind of policeman for the western hemisphere. In a message to 
Congress in December, 1904, the President said: "Chronic wrong- 
doing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the 
ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately 
require intervention by some civilized nation, and in the western 
hemisphere the adherence of the United States to the Monroe 
Doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in 
flagrant cases of such wrong-doing or impotence, to the exercise of 
an international police power. ' ' 

Roosevelt's "Second Election" 
Roosevelt's The President 's novel and spectacular course in regard to Panama 

Nomination . . , , . . . 

and the Caribbean elicited a great deal of criticism, but the net 
result of his policy was to heighten his popularity. By the time 
the campaign of 1904 opened he had captured the imagination of 
the American people and was as good as nominated by his party as 
its Presidential candidate. It is true that for a while there was 
some talk among Republican leaders of nominating Senator Hanna. 
It was not certain that the senator desired a nomination, but a 
political fund was raised and steps were taken to carry forward a 
campaign in his behalf. His death, however, in February, 1904, 
removed the center of opposition to Roosevelt. When the Republi- 
can national convention met in Chicago there was not even the 
semblance of a contest; the President received the nomination by 
acclamation. The platform upon which the nominee was to rest his 
candidacy was devoid of significance. ' ' The significant thing about 
it was not so much what it contained as what it did not contain.' ' 
There was in it no recognition of the social and economic problems 
that were before the country crying for a solution. Its silence about 
these things comported well enough with the conservatism of the 
men who were in control of the convention. The temporary chair- 
man was Elihu Root ; the permanent chairman, Joseph G. Cannon. 
Henry Cabot Lodge was chairman of the committee that framed the 
platform. Murray Crane and Boise Penrose were members of the 
national committee, 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 715 

The conservative element had the upper hand also in the Demo- ™ *^ I> - 
cratic convention which met at Gt. Louis; for Bryan's hold on his 



party had been loosened and the ' ' safe and sane ' ' element was in A " Safe and 

1 ^ , Sane" 

the saddle. The leading candidate put forward by the conserva- Nomination 
tives was Alton B. Parker of New York. There was in the con- 
vention, however, a considerable body of radical delegates who 
favored the nomination of William R. Hearst, the owner of daily 
newspapers in five cities, a champion of the cause of labor, and an 
unsparing opponent of corporations and of corporate wealth. When 
the first ballot was taken Parker received 658 votes and Hearst 200, 
the rest being scattered. The whole number of votes was exactly 
1000, and 667 (two thirds) were necessary for a choice. Before the 
result of the first ballot was declared several delegates changed 
their votes to Parker, and a motion to make his nomination unani- 
mous was carried. The Democratic platform, like that of the 
Republicans, was remarkable chiefly for what it did not contain. 
Its most significant feature was its silence upon the money ques- 
tion. Free silver as an issue was abandoned. The reason for 
dropping it was stated as follows, although the statement did not 
appear in the platform: "The discoveries of gold within the last ^ 
few years, and the greatly increased productions thereof, adding Platform 
$2,000,000,000 to the world's supply, of which $700,000,000 falls 
to the share of the United States, have contributed to the main- 
tenance of a money standard of values no longer open to question, 
removing that issue from the field of political contention." As 
soon as Parker was notified of his nomination he telegraphed to 
the convention that inasmuch as the platform was silent on the 
money question he felt that the convention ought to know that 
he regarded the gold standard as firmly and irrevocably estab- 
lished. The convention replied that the platform was silent on 
the question of a monetary standard because it was the sense of 
the convention that that question was not an issue of the campaign. 
Parker was satisfied with the reply, and nothing more was heard 
of the silver question. 

The campaign of 1904 was more listless and uninteresting than a Quiet 
any since the Civil War. As the platforms of both parties were 
colorless documents, there could be no sharp clashes on questions 
of policy. There was heated discussion about the trusts, but this 
consisted principally in the pot calling the kettle black. The 
Republicans could exploit with success the remarkable personality 



716 



THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 



of their candidate, but the qualities of the Democratic candidate 
were not such as to awaken any great amount of enthusiasm. 
Judge Parker was recognized by everybody as a man of the highest 
integrity, but his utterances were too mild and conservative for 
electioneering purposes. "His long term of service as judge of the 
highest court of New York, his remoteness from actual partisan 
controversies, his refusal to plunge into a whirlwind stumping cam- 
paign, and his dignified reserve, all combined to prevent his getting 
a grip upon the popular imagination." He was handicapped, be- 
sides, by the lukewarm support he received from Bryan; for 
although Bryan announced that he intended to vote for Parker, 
his movements in the campaign resembled those of a man who was 
sulking in his tent. 

In the last days of the campaign a great deal of commotion was 
caused by a tilt between Roosevelt and Parker on the subject of 
campaign contributions. Judge Parker called attention to the 
fact that George B. Cortelyou had resigned the post of secretary 
of commerce and labor, in which he had headed the department 
that was investigating the trusts, 1 in order to become the manager 
of the campaign, and intimated that he was using information he 
had acquired as a member of the cabinet in order to force large 
contributions from the corporations. No formal answer to the 
charge was made until three days before the election when Roose- 
velt declared in the most positive manner that the statements made 
by Parker were "unqualifiedly and atrociously false." The 
Democratic candidate seemed to be demolished by the President's 
reply, and the country could not help admiring the manner in 
which the sledge-hammer blow was delivered. But history would 
not have it that the judge was everlastingly smashed. Subsequent 
revelations showed that enormous sums had been contributed by 
corporations to the Republican national committee. Of the 
$1,900,000 contributed to Cortelyou 's campaign fund about 
$1,400,000 came from the corporations. In after years Roosevelt 
asserted that he knew nothing personally about the corporation 
contributions; but even so, we can now see plainly enough that 
while in form Judge Parker's accusation was unfortunate and wide 
of the mark, in substance it was laden with a considerable amount 
of unpleasant truth. 
1 See p. 703. 




Underwood & Underwood 



J'-A*^urt* /fo^e~-e^2(- 



ROOSEVELT'S ''SECOND" TERM 717 

If the facts about the campaign funds had become known before xxxni 

the election the result upon the voting would doubtless have been 

inappreciable. For the personal attractiveness of Roosevelt was y°° t s evelt ' 8 
so great that ordinary criticism was powerless to injure his popu- 
larity. The people wanted him, corporation contributions or no 
corporation contributions, and they elected him by the largest 
majority that had up to that time ever been given to a candidate 
for the Presidency. The popular vote was 7,677,000 for Roosevelt 
and 6,407,000 for Parker. The electoral vote was 321 for Roosevelt 
and 162 for Parker. 

Roosevelt's "Second" Teem 
Until March 4, 1905, President Roosevelt .was restrained in a servant 

of the 

his official action to some extent by the pledge he had made to People 
follow in the footsteps of McKinley. When he entered upon what 
he called his "second" term he was free to strike out in any 
direction. In the furtherance of any policy which he might care 
to adopt he could be counted on to make a hard fight, for he was 
the chosen leader of the people. Regarding himself as the imme- 
diate spokesman of the people, he entertained a very broad concep- 
tion of his leadership. In his "Autobiography," written in after 
years, he said : ' ' The course I followed of regarding the executive 
as subject only to the people, and, under the Constitution, bound to 
serve the people affirmatively in cases where the Constitution does 
not explicitly forbid him to render the service, was substantially 
the course followed by both Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln. 
Other honorable and well-meaning Presidents, such as James 
Buchanan, took the opposite and, as it seems to me, narrowly 
legalistic view that the President is the servant of Congress, rather 
than of the people, and can do nothing, no matter how necessary 
it be to act, unless the Constitution explicitly commands action." 
The biggest thing in regard to which Roosevelt asserted his The 

DO ° ° m Railroad 

leadership during his "second" term was the railroad question. Question 
Back in 1903 at his insistence Congress had in grudging mood 
passed the Elkins Act forbidding railroads to grant rebates to 
favored shippers, a half-hearted measure which by no means met 
the requirements of the situation. In 1905 in his annual message 
the President made it plain that he was bent on a still wider reform 



718 THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 

in railway matters. He desired the "enactment into law of some 
scheme to secure to the agents of the Government such supervision 
and regulation of the rates charged by the railroads of the country 
engaged in interstate traffic as shall summarily and effectively 
prevent the imposition of unjust or unreasonable rates. It must 
include putting a stop to rebates in every shape and form. This 
power to regulate rates, like all similar powers over the business 
world, should be exercised with moderation, caution, and self- 
restraint; but it should exist so that it can be effectively exercised 
when the need arises. ' ' 

Congress could not ignore this recommendation. The abuses 
of the railroads were flagrant, and existing law afforded no remedy. 
The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 had become an almost lifeless 
thing. Congress was hesitant, but it was bound to listen to the 
popular demand for action. After a long and exceptionally able 
debate, and despite the presence of the most powerful railroad 
lobby that ever gathered in Washington, the Hepburn Act was 
passed in June, 1906. In form this law was an amendment of the 
act of 1887. It raised the number of members of the interstate 
commerce commission from five to seven, lengthened the term of 
members from five to seven years, and brought their salary up from 
$7,500 to $10,000. The underlying purpose of the bill was to 
bestow upon the interstate commerce commission the power to fix 
rates. The commission had had power to declare a rate unreason- 
able, but it had had no power to substitute what it might consider 
a reasonable rate. This, as we have seen, 1 was in effect no power 
at all. The act of 1906 authorized the commission, on complaint 
and after a hearing, to determine and prescribe just and reason- 
able maximum rates. The law broadened the term "common 
carrier" so as to bring under the power of the commission not only 
railroads, but express companies, sleeping-car companies, and pipe- 
lines carrying oil. It also prohibited railroads from engaging in 
the business of mining iron or coal, or producing commodities 
which they were accustomed to carry as freight, the prohibition 
being intended to break up the control that the railroads were 
exercising over the anthracite coal business in tato, and over the 
bituminous coal business in part. But the coal monopoly was 
not hurt, for in 1908 the "commodity clause" was rendered vir- 
tually ineffective by a decision of the Supreme Court. In one 

J See p. (104. 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM 719 

respect the Hepburn Act was an important statute: it was the xxxni 

first law to give an express grant of the rate-making power to an 

agency of the Federal Government. Otherwise the act of 1906 had 
little or no claim to distinction. Its provisions in their practical 
application were so faulty that the relief which was sought was 
not found, and, as we shall presently learn, it soon became neces- 
sary to pass another railroad law. 

Of lasting benefit to the country was the legislation regulating 
the inspection of meats- and the purity of foods. For a long time 
it had been an open secret that manufacturers were adulterating 
their food products, and that animals unfit for human food were 
being placed upon the market for sale. In 1906, in response to a 
popular demand, and in line with the urgent recommendations of 
President Roosevelt, a Meat-Inspection Bill and a Pure-Foods Bill 
were passed. The first of these measures provided for a system of 
inspection that would guarantee that the meat shipped in inter- 
state commerce should be derived from animals that were healthy 
at the time of their slaughter, that it should be prepared under 
sanitary conditions, and that it should be inspected by officers 
of the Federal Government. The second measure referred to the 
sale of foods and drugs. It imposed a penalty for using poisonous 
or otherwise injurious substances in the adulteration of articles 
shipped from one State to another, and forbade the false labeling 
and branding of goods; foods and drugs "must not contain any 
injurious or deleterious drug, chemical, or preservative, and the 
label on each package must state the exact facts and not be mis- 
leading or false in any particular. ' ' 

President Roosevelt was a zealous advocate of conserving the Natural 

• • Resources 

natural resources of the country. He did not originate or secure 
the enactment of any significant legislation on the subject, yet he 
brought the subject of conservation before the country in a most 
impressive manner, and urged with powerful effect the necessity 
of developing the nation's natural resources in a way that would 
bring the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people. It 
was high time that something in this direction should be done, for 
in dealing with our public domain with its priceless treasures of 
farming land, forests, minerals, and water-power, the Government 
had been remiss in the highest degree. Said a United States 
senator in 1907: "Hitherto our national policy has been one of 
almost unrestricted disposal of natural resources, and this in more 



720 



THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 



lavish measure than in any other nation in the world's history; 
and this policy of the Federal Government has been shared by 
the constituent States. Three consequences have ensued : first, 
unprecedented consumption of natural resources; second, exhaus- 
tion of these resources to 'the extent that a large part of our avail- 
able public lands have passed into great estates or corporate 
interests, our forests are so far depleted as to multiply the cost 
of forest products, and our supplies of coal and iron ore so far 
reduced as to enhance prices; and, third, -unequaled opportunity 
for private monopoly." 

From this description of our prodigality it would seem that for 
President Roosevelt to talk of conservation was like talking of 
locking the stable after the horse is stolen. But the case was not 
so bad as that. The natural resources still in the possession of 
the Government had a value almost beyond computation, and if 
a firm policy of conservation were adopted and carried forward 
in earnest the heritage might be so administered that it would 
be a source of good to all the people. That it was incumbent 
upon statesmen to adopt such a policy was urged with great force 
by President Roosevelt, for to his mind the question of conser- 
vation was of paramount importance. In his annual message to 
Congress in 1907 he said: "The conservation of our natural 
resources and their proper use constitute the fundamental problem 
which underlies almost every other problem of our national life. 
We must maintain for our civilization the adequate material basis 
without which that civilization cannot exist. We must show fore- 
sight, we must look ahead." 

No new legislation of great importance was secured, but there 
were already on the books laws which could be used for promoting 
conservation. An act of 1891 authorized the President to reserve 
permanently such forest lands as he deemed expedient. Under 
the provisions of this law President Roosevelt withdrew nearly 
150,000,000 acres of public lands to be set aside as forest reserves. 
In carrying forward this feature of conservation the President 
could avail himself of the valuable services of his warm friend 
Gifford Pinchot, who as chief of the bureau of forestry gathered 
about him a body of trained assistants and managed our vast forest 
possessions so as to protect them from waste and destruction. The 
Reclamation Act of 1902 provided that the money received for 
public lands in certain States should be spent for irrigation works. 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM 



721 



Under this law the President pushed forward the work of reclaim- ^xxm 

ing dry lands, and before many years had passed a member of the 

reclamation service could write : ' ' Irrigation canals representing 
an investment of $150,000,000 and long enough to girdle the globe 
with triple bands have spread oases of green in sixteen arid States 
and Territories. An annual harvest of not less than $250,000,000 




Map showing the location of the irrigation projects of the United States 

Government. 



is the desert's response to the intelligent application of water to 
her sunburnt valleys. ' ' While much of this success in reclamation 
was due to the enterprise of individuals and of States, it was never- 
theless President Roosevelt's earnest advocacy of conservation 
that gave the irrigation movement its greatest strength. 

It was in the interest of conservation that President Roosevelt The "Con- 
ference of 

in 1908 summoned to Washington the "conference of governors." Governors" 
This remarkable gathering, consisting not only of the governors 
of the several States but of many other prominent men, discussed 
for several days the subject of conservation from almost every 



722 



THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 



CHAP. 

XXXIII 



point of view. As a result of its deliberations it recommended 
protection of the source of waters of navigable streams, prevention 
of forest-fires by both national and State action, extension of prac- 
tical forestry, the granting of separate titles to the surface of 
public lands and to the minerals beneath, and the creation of con- 
servation commissions by the individual States. The conference 
was staged with excellent effect; its discussions had a high educa- 
tional value; and it caused people everywhere to take greater 
interest in the natural resources of the country and in their con- 
servation. 

The Election of 1908 



Following 
the Exam- 
ple of 

Washington 
and Jeffer- 
son 



The 

Republican 

Nominee 

and 

Platform 



Some of the members of the governors' conference were doubt- 
less fully as much interested in party politics as they were in 
conservation, for several of them were regarded as "available" 
as candidates in the Presidential election that was just ahead. 
Roosevelt's interest in this election, however, was not that of a 
candidate. Many of his friends thought that he ought to make 
the race again, but he himself did not think so. In 1904, when 
the news came that he was elected, he made this statement: "On 
the fourth of March next I shall have served three and one half 
years, and the three and one half years constitute my first term. 
The wise custom that limits the President to two terms regards 
the substance and not the form. Under no circumstances will I 
be a candidate for or accept another nomination." This meant 
that he intended to follow the example set by Washington and 
Jefferson and refuse another term. When 1908 came he remained 
firm in his purpose. 

The position of the President was so strong that he could virtu- 
ally name his successor. His choice fell upon his secretary of war, 
William H. Taft, and when the Republican convention met in 
Chicago his man was nominated on the first roll-call. The Repub- 
lican platform was of the conservative type. It favored the 
amendment of the Sherman Anti-Trust Law in such a manner as 
to provide more publicity and to bestow upon the Government 
more supervision and control. It advocated a revision of the 
tariff, declaring that "in all tariff legislation the true principle 
of protection is best maintained by the imposition of such duties 
as will equal the difference between the cost of production at home 



THE ELECTION OF 1908 723 

ana abroad, together with a reasonable profit to American indus- chap- 

tries." It advocated the regulation of the issuance of injunctions 

by the Federal courts, but the language used was unsatisfactory 
to labor leaders, who had been seeking relief from the power of 
the courts to issue injunctions in labor disputes. Planks pledging 
the party to legislation requiring publicity for campaign expendi- 
tures, valuation of the physical property of railroads, and the 
election of United States senators by a direct popular vote were 
rejected. 

On the Democratic side the followers of Bryan had again secured democratic 
control of the party machinery and at the convention which met f,"™p"||. 
in Denver Bryan was nominated by a great majority. The nominee form 
was the complete master of the convention 's proceedings and could 
write a platform to suit himself. In respect to the trusts he ven- 
tured to state precisely what he thought ought to be done. This 
was something entirely new. There had been a vast amount of 
talk about ' ' good ' ' trusts and ' ' bad ' ' trusts and about ' ' evolution ' ' 
and "wise supervision," but never before had a responsible leader 
of any party come forward with a program stated in language 
sufficiently specific for statutory enactment. In the platform 
Bryan wrote : 

A private monopoly is indefensible and intolerable. We there- 
fore favor the vigorous enforcement of the criminal law against 
guilty trust magnates and officials, and demand the enactment of 
such additional legislation as may be necessary to make it impos- 
sible for a private monopoly to exist in the United States. Among 
the additional remedies we specify three : first, a law preventing a 
duplication of directors among competing corporations; second, a 
license system which will, without abridging the right of each 
State to create corporations or its right to regulate as it will 
foreign corporations doing business within its limits, make it 
necessary for a manufacturing or trading corporation engaged in 
interstate commerce to take out a Federal license before it shall be 
permitted to control as much as 25 per cent of the product in 
which it deals, a license to protect the public from watered stock, 
and to prohibit the control by such corporation of more than 50 
per cent of the total amount of any product consumed in the 
United States; and, third, a law compelling such licensed corpora- 
tions to sell to all purchasers in all parts of the country on the same 
terms after making due allowance for cost of transportation. 



724 



THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 



CHAP. 

XXXIII 



The 
Campaign 



The 

Publicity of 
Campaign 
Contribu- 
tions 



The contest of 1908 failed to elicit any great amount of popular 
enthusiasm. In some of its aspects the campaign was not a credit- 
able incident in the history of party politics. Some underhanded 
methods of campaigning were resorted to, no cleareut issue was 
kept before the public, the discussions were for the most part either 
vague or evasive, and there was undue obtrusion of personalities. 
Bryan started out by laying emphasis on the trust question, but 
he could not force the issue. Doubtless nobody could have forced 
it, for to the average man it seemed that the trusts had got the 
situation where it was beyond remedy, that the "egg had been 
scrambled" and there was no way to unscramble it. At any rate, 
Bryan's proposals were not very well received. He toured the 
country but his campaigning had lost its novelty. In the East, 
where Taft was strongest, Bryan found himself opposed by capi- 
talistic forces; in the West he had to face the great popularity of 
President Roosevelt, who entered into the campaign personally and 
fought with all his might for the Republican candidate. Bryan 
protested against the President's activity in the campaign. "For 
a President," he said, "to use his prestige and influence as a party 
asset for the advancement of a personal friend is a violation of the 
obligation that a President owes to the whole body of the people." 
But Roosevelt could go against Bryan with right good-will, for 
he regarded him as an unusually inferior candidate. In a letter 
written during the campaign the President said : "Of course I 
do not dare in public to express my real opinion of Bryan. He is 
a kindly man and well-meaning in a weak way. . . . But he is 
the cheapest fakir we have ever had proposed for President." 
The subject of campaign contributions gave rise to a great deal 
of controversy. The Democratic platform declared in favor of 
the publication of contributions before election. Bryan could ex- 
ploit this plank to the discomfiture of his opponents, for the public 
was now informed in part at least of the actual nature of the con- 
tributions made when Judge Parker was the candidate. 1 Roosevelt 
approved of the publication of campaign expenses after but not 
before election. He contended that if they were published before 
the election the information would be used as the basis of "insin- 
cere and untruthful argument," and this would result in creating 
"false impressions" in the minds of voters as to the fitness of 
candidates. In reply to this Bryan said: "You charge, in effect, 

1 See p. 716. 



CHAP. 
XXX1I1 



THE ELECTION OF 1908 725 

that the people are so lacking in intelligence that they might con- 
demn as improper contributions which you declare to be proper. - 
. . . Must the members of party organizations act as self-appointed 
guardians of the people and conceal from them what is going on 
lest the people be misled as to the purpose and effect of large con- 
tributions?" In time the President came around to Bryan's view, 
for in October, 1910, at Ossawatomie, Kansas, he said: "It is 
particularly important that all moneys received and expended for 
campaign purposes should be publicly accounted for not only after 
election but before election as well." 

As the campaign drew to a close the managers on the Democratic 
side professed to be optimistic, but the general belief was that 
Taft would be elected. The outcome was a sweeping Republican • 
victory. Taft received 321 electoral votes as against 162 for Bryan. 
Of the popular vote Taft got 7,678,908; Bryan, 6,409,104; and 
Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist candidate, 420,792. 

Many years will pass, of course, before the historian will be able R h at evelt 
to assess the achievements of the Roosevelt administrations at their fought of 
true value. It is interesting, however, to know what the President ^mta*' 
himself thought of his own work. This can be learned very well 
from a letter written to Sidney Brooks in December 1908. In this 
letter Roosevelt said: 

"During my term as President I have more than doubled the 
navy of the United States, and at this moment our battle fleet is 
doing what no other similar fleet of a like size has ever done — that 
is, circumnavigating the globe. . . . 

"Then take the Panama Canal. I do not think that any feat of 
quite such far-reaching importance has been to the credit of our 
country in recent years ; and this I can say absolutely was my own 
work, and could not have been accomplished save by me or by some 
man of my temperament. 

"Again, I think the peace of Portsmouth, was a substantial 
achievement. You probably know the part we played in the 
Algeciras conference. 

"Again, I believe what I did in settling the anthracite coal strike 
was a matter of very real moment from the standpoint not only of 
industrial but of social reform and progress. 

"Again, I have doubled or quadrupled the forest reserves of the 
country ; have put through the reorganization of the forest service, 
placing it under the Agricultural Department ; and I may add as a 
small incident, have created a number of reservations for pre- 



726 THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 

serving the wild things of nature, the beasts and birds as well as 
the trees. 

"In legislation I succeeded in getting through the national 
irrigation act in the development of the semi-arid States, of the 
great plains and Rockies; I think this achievement in importance 
comes second only to the creation of the homestead act ; and indeed 
in those particular States it is more important than the homestead 
act. 

"During these eight sessions- of Congress I have succeeded in 
getting the administration of the civil government in the Philippine 
Islands put upon a satisfactory basis; and I got Congress to 
approve of my action in interfering in Cuba — and here, by the way, 
let me interject that I think we have given a pretty fair example 
of international good faith of the kind I preach, for after having 
our army for the second time for several years in Cuba, we are 
now about to leave the island prosperous and thriving, and with a 
reasonable hope that it can achieve self-government for itself; at 
least, if it can not, it is evident that we have done our best to put it 
on the road of stable and orderly independence. 

"In Santo Domingo, after two years' delay I got the Senate to 
ratify the treaty I had made (and under which, incidentally, I had 
been acting for two years) and have noAV put the affairs of the 
island on a better basis than they have been for a century — indeed, 
I do not think it would be an over-statement to say on a better 
basis than they have ever been before. The Senate has ratified our 
actions with regard to South America, and in consequence our 
position in regard to the Latin-American Republics is infinitely 
better than it ever has been before ; and so, I may add, is the case 
with Japan, thanks to our demonstrating that we desire to act with 
fairness and courtesy, and in entire good faith, and that we carry a 
big stick. 

"We succeeded in passing a law improving the administration 
of the army, and also a law improving the administration of the 
national guard or militia. We got another law passed which 
established the Department of Commerce and Labor, with the 
Bureau of Corporations, and thereby enabled us to take the first 
really efficient step toward exercising proper national supervision 
and control over the great corporations. 

' ' Partly by law and partly by executive order we have completely 
reorganized the consular service of the United States. We passed 
a lawgiving vitality to the Interstate Commerce Commission, and 
for the first time providing some kind of efficient control by the 
National Government over the great railroads. We passed a law 



THE ELECTION OF 1908 727 

providing for Federal meat inspection of the packing houses, xxxn'i 

and also the pure food law, both of them of the utmost importance 

from the sanitary standpoint. In matters of social and industrial 
reform I got a law creating a juvenile court for the District of 
Columbia ; another, providing for the investigation of the condition 
of women and child workers of the United States; an employers' 
liability law for corporations engaged in interstate commerce, and 
for the Government service itself, and for the District of Columbia ; 
where we have also regulated child labor by law. This means, all 
told, a considerable sum of legislative achievements. 

' ' We settled the Alaskan boundary dispute ; we have laid the 
Pacific cable. By the establishment of army and navy maneuvers 
I have, I think, much increased the efficiency of the army and 
doubled the efficiency of the navy. I have started the movement 
for the development of our inland waterways as part of the great 
movement for the conservation of our national resources. I also 
started the movement for the betterment of the conditions of 
country life. All these latter, however, have been done by me 
without the assistance of Congress. Furthermore, through the 
Department of Justice we have brought big corporations and labor 
unions impartially before the courts, and have actually brought to 
justice and secured the punishment by fine and imprisonment of 
the most powerful wrongdoers in the land. So many successful 
suits, civil and criminal, have been undertaken by the Department 
of Justice that I would not even attempt to enumerate them. The 
anger of labor leaders like Gompers, and of the largest Wall Street 
magnates on the other side, is a sufficient guaranty of what we have 
done. ' ' 

NOTES AND CHRONOLOGY 

[This matter is indexed. It does not include dates given or subjects treated 
in the main body of the text.] 

1895 Cotton States Exposition held at Atlanta. 

1896 Utah and Idaho grant complete suffrage to women. 

1897 The new Congressional Library at Washington opened. 

1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition held at Omaha. 

Erdman Act passed authorizing the chairman of the interstate commerce 
commission to endeavor to bring together the employees of any rail- 
road threatened with a strike and if possible effect an immediate and 
peaceful settlement of the dispute. 

1899 International peace conference at the Hague, delegates from twenty-six 

nations attending. (A permanent court of arbitration was estab- 
lished.) 
Admiral Dewey, arriving at New York upon his return from the Philip- 
pines, is received with many demonstrations of great popular 
enthusiasm. 



728 THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION 

CHAP. 1899 Germany announces a naval program looking toward the increasing of 

'___ her navy to twice its strength. 

1900 Galveston, Texas, overwhelmed by an inundation. (More than 6,000 

lives were lost and the city was left in a devastated condition.) 

1901 Pan-American Exposition held at Buffalo to illustrate the progress of 

civilization in the western hemisphere during the nineteenth century. 
(All the countries of the western world participated.) 

1903 Department of Commerce and Labor created. 

1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition held at St. Louis. 

A great fire in Baltimore destroys $70,000,000 worth of property. 

1905 The Portsmouth Treaty. (In 1904 Japan and Russia came to blowa 

over the occupation of Manchuria by the latter nation. In June, 
1905, President Roosevelt, after consulting with the Japanese min- 
ister and the Russian ambassador, urged the contending nations to 
open peace negotiations with each other. This action resulted in 
the negotiation of a treaty at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which 
brought peace.) 

1906 Algeciras Convention. (This was called at Algeciras, Spain, in re- 

sponse to complaints by Europeans and Americans that the life 
and property of foreigners were unsafe in Morocco. It was par- 
ticipated in by the United States and most of the European 
powers. The agreements of the conference had the result of open- 
ing the way to French control of Morocco.) 

The Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization is established. 

An earthquake and fire destroy a large part of San Francisco causing 
a loss of over $400,000,000 and several thousand lives. 

1907 The Jamestown Exposition is held near Norfolk, Virginia, to com- 

memorate the three hundredth anniversary of the first permanent 
settlement of Anglo-Saxon people in America. 

1908 The World Cruise of the American Navy. (On July 7, 1908, a fleet 

of 16 American battleships left San Francisco for a voyage around 
the world. The fleet was reviewed by President Roosevelt at 
Hampton Roads on February 22, 1909, having travelled a distance 
of more than 42,000 miles.) 

1909 Polar Exploration. (On April 6, 1909, Commander Robert E. Peary, 

U. S. N., reached the North Pole, the goal that for centuries had 
baffled explorers. On January 9, 1909, E. H. Sbackleton, of Eng- 
land, reached a point within 111 miles of the South Pole. 
Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition is held at Seattle. 



Suggested Eeadmgs 

Theodore Roosevelt : Lingley, pp. 448-472. 

Roosevelt's "second" term: Stanwood, Vol. II, pp. 77-140; Haworth, pp. 
317-340. 

Building of the Panama Canal : Lantane, pp. 204-223. 
The beginning of a new century: Haworth, pp. 424-447. 
Election of 1908: Stanwood, Vol. II, pp. 140-213. 
Industrial conditions: Van Metre, pp. 501-518. 



XXXIV 
A PROGRESSIVE ERA 

AT the time Roosevelt went out and Taft came in the word 
that charmed the popular ear and stirred the popular heart 
was "progress." A reforming or progressive spirit was manifest 
in almost every department of American life. So pervasive and 
so real was the forward-looking tendency that men fondly believed 
the twentieth century had ushered in a progressive era whose end 
no man could see. 

Progress in Social Matters 

The progressive movement of the twentieth century acquired its Levifof 
greatest strength from educational agencies which were raising the fn^nSence 
popular intelligence to higher and higher levels. Public schools 
had been established in such numbers that they could furnish in- 
struction to practically every child in America. In 1900 there 
were more than 15,000,000 pupils enrolled in our schools; twenty 
years later the mighty army of learners had increased to more 
than 20,000,000. Within the same period the annual expenditures 
for public education increased from $215,000,000 to more than 
$1,000,000,000. Students in public high schools and other sec- 
ondary institutions numbered 630,000 in 1900, more than 1,000,000 
in 1910, and nearly 2,000,000 in 1920. In our colleges and uni- 
versities the registration in 1900 was about 100,000;. ten years 
later it had nearly doubled, and twenty years later it had trebled. 
The cause of higher education continued to be supported and 
advanced 1 by the liberality of wealthy donors. In a single year 
gifts to educational institutions sometimes amounted to more than 
$60,000,000. The munificence of Andrew Carnegie and John D. 
Rockefeller assumed colossal proportions. With the view of cre- 
ating an agency by which original investigation and research could 
receive every possible encouragement Carnegie in 1903 established 
the Carnegie Institution at Washington and endowed it first and 

1 See p. 583. 

729 



730 



A PROGRESSIVE ERA 



CHAP. 

XXXIV 



Practical 
Education 



Libraries 



last with $21,000,000. For the purpose of providing professional 
pensions and retiring allowances for teachers and officers in colleges 
and universities he established in 1905 the Carnegie Foundation 
for the Advancement of Teaching, setting aside for its maintenance 
a sum which he increased from time to time until in 1921 the 
endowment of the foundation was nearly $30,000,000. In 1902 
Rockefeller caused to be organized the General Education Board, 
the purpose of which was to promote education in the United States 
without distinction as to race, sex, or creed. Into the endowment 
fund of this board he poured sums which at last reached a total 
of more than $100,000,000. In the first eighteen years of its 
history the board contributed to the colleges and universities of 
the country upward of $35,000,000. 

Educators were striving to make the schools more practical and 
useful. There was more eye, ear, and hand work — such as drawing, 
carpentry, music, sewing, and cooking. Some schools went so far 
as to furnish vocational training which aimed (1) to assist the 
younger pupils in finding out what kind of work they were best 
fitted to perform and (2) to give the older pupils the specific 
training necessary to prepare them for their chosen vocation. In 
Gary, Indiana, there was developed what was known as an alter- 
nating plan of studies under which the pupils gave half a day to 
the regular studies and half a day to special activities of various 
kinds. The Gary System attracted a great deal of attention and 
in a modified form was introduced in several of the large cities. 
As the idea of vocational training had found favor in the eyes of 
our national lawmakers, the Smith-Hughes Act was passed in 1907, 
providing for the promotion of vocational education through the 
cooperation of the Federal Government with the States. Under 
this law the money appropriated by Congress must be used in the 
paying of salaries of teachers of subjects connected with agricul- 
ture and home economics, and every sum of money contributed by 
the Federal Government must be matched by an equal amount 
contributed by the State. 

Next in importance after the public schools among educational 
agencies were the public libraries. These included not only city 
library systems, many with numerous branch libraries, but school, 
college, and university libraries, county libraries with brandies 
and stations, and State libraries or State library commissions, 
many of which rendered "State-wide service bj^ lending books to 



PROGRESS IN SOCIAL MATTERS 731 

individuals or through the loan of small traveling library collec- ^xxrv 

tions to schools, clubs, granges, and stores. In 1900 there were less 

than 7000 libraries with 1000 or more volumes, and they contained 
an aggregate of 55,000,000 volumes; in 1920 there were probably 
20,000 such libraries, containing altogether probably more than 
100,000,000 volumes. But the change in the scope and character 
of the service rendered by libraries was of even greater importance 
than the increase in their number. "Formerly," says Dr. G. P. 
Bowerman of the Washington Public Library, "libraries chiefly 
supplied books to adults of literary tastes. Now special collections 
in charge of librarians trained in children's literature are general, 
in order that supplementary education through the library may 
go hand in hand with school instruction. Supported for the most 
part by public funds, usually much more meagerly than the public 
schools, they have in fact become effective supplements of the 
public schools in training for citizenship. Promoters of library 
progress have as their goal the supplying of free books and library 
service to every man, woman, and child in the country." An 
influential factor in the creation of many new libraries and in the 
expansion of numerous old libraries was the benefactions of 
Andrew Carnegie. In twenty-five years he and the Carnegie Cor- 
poration gave more than $40,000,000 to cities and colleges for the 
erection of library buildings. 

In addition to the regularly organized schools and public Newspapers 
libraries many supplementary and indirect agencies assisted Magazines 
in spreading intelligence broadcast among the people. The rural 
free delivery carried the daily newspaper to vast numbers of 
readers who had not been accustomed to receive it. Between 1901 
and 1916 the number of people of the countryside reached by Uncle 
Sam's postmen increased from 4,000,000 to 26,000,000. In the 
larger cities free public lectures were established, while in rural 
communities the Chautauqua Circle attracted large audiences com- 
posed of men and women seeking to acquire fresh stores of knowl- 
edge. Then the cheap magazine appeared, and readers who could 
not afford to buy "The Atlantic Monthly" or "The Century" or 
"Harper's" could satisfy their literary cravings by spending a 
nickel or perhaps a dime for "The Saturday Evening Post," or 
"Everybody's," or "McClure's," or "Munsey's." 

A result, as it were, of this wider diffusion of knowledge was social 

° . Reform 

a desire for the betterment of social conditions. The cry for social 



732 



A PROGRESSIVE ERA 



CHAP. 
XXXIV 



The State 
and the 
Working- 
man 



reform in the early years of the twentieth century was louder and 
more insistent than any similar demand that had been made within 
the memory of men. The movement came not from the top to 
the bottom, but the other way about. This was to be expected; 
the route to social reform is not to be sought through forces that 
have made social reform necessary. Inasmuch as most of the 
affairs of every-day life are regulated by the State, it was with the 
State that the reformer first began his labors. 

The chief object of the reformer's concern was the working-man. 
More was done for the working classes in the first two decades of 
the twentieth century than had been done for them in the entire 
previous century. In almost every State the legislature was busy 
enacting laws providing for the safety, comfort, and general wel- 
fare of toilers. The warfare against child labor and against the 
overworking of women in factories was conducted with such vigor 
that few States failed to enact laws forbidding the employment of 
children too young to work and limiting the number of hours that 
women could be lawfully employed. In most of the States children 
less than fourteen years of age were absolutely excluded by the neAv 
legislation from employment in factories, mills, and workshops; 
and in almost half the States it was declared unlawful for children 
less than sixteen to be employed for more than eight hours a day. 
In about three fourths of the States it was provided that women 
should not be employed for more than ten hours a day, while in 
a few States the limit for women was fixed at eight hours. The 
constitutionality of legislation of this kind was upheld in 1908 by 
the Supreme Court of the United States. "As healthy mothers," 
said the court, "are essential to vigorous offspring, their physical 
well-being becomes an object of public interest and care in order 
to preserve the strength and vigor of the race." There was an 
avalanche of laws designed to protect working-men from the dis- 
tressing results of accidents. In more than forty States employers' 
liability law r s were passed providing compensation for employees 
injured while in the performance of their tasks. It w r as high time 
that workmen should be given such protection, for it was esti- 
mated that in 1908 two million men were injured, of whom 200,000 
were permanently disabled and 30,000 died, a casualty list com- 
parable to that of a campaign in a great war. In more than a 
dozen States lawmakers, finding that large classes of unskilled 
workers were paid wages far too low for decent living, came to 



PROGRESS IN SOCIAL MATTERS 733 

the relief of such underpaid employees with minimum-wage laws. xxx?v 



men 



These undertook to fix a living wage, a wage that was sufficient 
for "the normal needs of the average employee regarded as a 
human being living in a civilized country." Pensions for indigent 
mothers became a popular form of extending the helping hand of 
the State. For example, in Massachusetts the law provided that 
in every city and town the overseers of the poor should aid mothers 
with dependent children under fourteen, the aid provided to be 
sufficient to enable the mothers to bring up the children properly 
in their own homes. Mothers' pension laws were enacted in nearly 
forty States, and more than 100,000 mothers and children were 
benefited by the relief. The widespread approval that was given 
to the movement for mothers' pensions indicated that in the popu- 
lar mind there was a deep-rooted conviction that no child ought 
to be deprived of home life and a mother's care. 

Although the first efforts to ameliorate conditions in the labor The 
world were made by the State, it was not long before the reformer Government 
was knocking at the door of the Federal Government. Congress, working- 
even if it had cared to do much, could do but little, for its power 
in respect to labor matters is small. Still, there were some things 
that came within the sphere of Federal authority and there were 
enacted by Congress a few measures bearing upon the problems 
of the working-man. In 1898 the Erdman Act was passed. This 
authorized the chairman of the interstate commerce commission 
to endeavor to bring together the employees and employers of any 
railroad threatened with a strike and if possible to effect an imme- 
diate and peaceful settlement of the dispute. In 1908 an act was 
passed making interstate railroads responsible for injuries to 
employees, thus extending the benefits of an employers' liability 
law to hundreds of thousands of trainmen. Congress also pro- 
vided compensation for employees injured in the Federal service. 
In order to reach the subject of child labor by Federal action a 
law was passed excluding from interstate commerce all goods pro- 
duced in factories or mines in which children less than fourteen 
years of age were employed. This reform, however, came to grief ; 
the Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional on the 
ground that it was not an attempt to regulate commerce, but an 
attempt to regulate the conditions of manufacture. In 1919 Con- 
gress, making another attempt to regulate child labor, passed a 
law imposing a tax of 10 per cent on the net profits of factories 



734 



A PROGRESSIVE ERA 



CHAP. 
XXXIV 



Private 
Agencies 
of Reform 



employing children not fourteen years of age. But the second law 
also came to grief, for in 1922 it was nullified by a decision of the 
Supreme Court. Thus it seemed that if child labor was ever to 
become a subject for Federal action the Constitution would have 
to be amended. 

It was not only through the power of government that men and 
women were striving to make the world better. Powerful private 
agencies were also set in motion for social betterment. Charity 
organization societies extended their work and increased in num- 
ber until almost every small city had an agency by which the 
poor could be helped in a rational and scientific manner. Hos- 
pitals founded by private munificence also increased in number 
to such an extent that in some sections of the country almost every 
locality had a hospital in which the sick could be cared for at a 
reasonable rate. The Red Cross Society, which was originally 
organized for the purpose of mitigating the horror of war by 
alleviating the suffering of the sick and the wounded, broadened 
the field of its usefulness and ministered to the needs of those who 
suffered from disease or as a result of fire or flood, or the catas- 
trophes of nature. The Russell Sage Foundation, organized in 
1901 with an endowment of $10,000,000, devoted its energies to 
the broad social mission of discovering and eradicating as far as 
possible the causes of poverty and ignorance. Among the popular 
aspirations of the time was a desire for peace, and it was with the 
view of preventing war that the Carnegie Endowment for Inter- 
national Peace, endowed with $10,000,000, undertook to establish 
among nations a better understanding of international rights and 
duties, so that nations might be willing to accept peaceful methods 
of settling their disputes. The public health of the whole world 
became the concern of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re- 
search, an institute founded in 1913 by John D. Rockefeller with 
an endowment of over $12,000,000. 



The Renascence of Democracy 



Popular 

Government 
Not Work- 
ing Well 



The success of the movement for social and industrial reform 
was due chiefly to the fact that the people were now pushing to 
the front and asserting themselves as the rightful masters of gov- 
ernment. For the most conspicuous feature of this progressive 
time was the renascence of democracy. All over the country the 



THE RENASCENCE OF DEMOCRACY 735 

people were coming to feel that popular government was not work- %^y 

ing, that the voters did not in fact direct the course of affairs. 

Men said: "We vote, we are offered platforms, we elect the men 
who stand on those platforms, but when government acts we are 
forgotten; the real object of government seems to be the fostering 
of the interests of the few and not of the many. ' ' The trouble was 
that the people had allowed themselves to be separated from their 
government and it had become a thing apart. "The people," said 
Woodrow Wilson, "have stood outside and looked on at their own 
government, and what they have had to determine in past years 
has been which crowd they would look on at ; whether they would 
look on at this little group or that little group who had managed 
to get the control of affairs in its hands." 

In the opening years of the twentieth century there were unmis- "Direct 
takable signs that the people were growing tired of merely looking emoerac y 
on at their government. Indeed, even in the last years of the 
nineteenth century they had begun to demand a more direct par- 
ticipation in government business. In 1898 the voters of South 
Dakota brought into use a political device by which the people 
might themselves engage personally and directly in the business of 
law-making — the device of the initiative and referendum. Here 
was a democratic contrivance that might well alarm the bene- 
ficiaries of invisible government ; for the initiative, besides giving 
life and power to the old right of petition, enables the voters to 
enact any law they want, while the referendum enables them to 
veto any law they do not want. The practical application of 
"direct democracy" in South Dakota appealed strongly to pro- 
gressive-minded people everywhere, and agitation in behalf of the 
initiative and referendum spread to all parts of the country. The 
movement met with success in State after State, and in one form 
or another the initiative and referendum were adopted in twenty- 
three States — South Dakota, Oregon, Montana, Oklahoma, Maine, 
Missouri, Arkansas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico (referendum 
only), California, Nevada, Michigan, Ohio, Nebraska, Utah, Wash- 
ington, Idaho, North Dakota, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, 
and Maryland (referendum only). 

From direct legislation to direct administration was only a short The Recall 
step, and it was taken. The initiative and referendum were sup- 
plemented by the recall, a device by which an elected officer on 
petition or complaint of a certain percentage of the voting popu- 



736 



A PROGRESSIVE ERA 



CHAP. 
XXXIV 



"A Gun 
Behind the 
Door" 



Direct 
Nomina- 
tions 



lation, say, 20 to 25 per cent, may be compelled to stand for 
reelection before the expiration of his term and be retired if he 
fails of reelection. The first State to adopt this device was Oregon, 
whose constitution was so amended in 1908 as to make all election 
officers subject to recall. The example of Oregon was followed by 
Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, California, Kansas, Michigan, Louisi- 
ana, Idaho, and Washington, although in the last four of these 
States the recall does not apply to judges. 

The proponents of direct popular • action were enthusiastic in 
their belief that the initiative, referendum, and recall would prove 
to be the one thing needful, the panacea of democratic ailments. 
To some extent they were not disappointed. In several of the 
States the reforms were put to the test and proved to be a success. 
But it was found that the new machinery was not automatic, that 
it would not work unless the people bestirred themselves and took 
it in their hands and worked it. We can now see that while the 
advantages of direct legislation are many they can be fully enjoyed 
only where the people by instinct and tradition are intensely 
democratic, where the popular interest in public affairs is keen, 
universal, and sustained, and where the average of popular intelli- 
gence is very high. But the movement was worth while. In the 
States where machinery for direct legislation was installed there 
was concealed behind the door a gun upon which voters could rely 
in an emergency, and time and time again the emergency arose 
and the gun was used. 

More significant than the movement for direct legislation was 
the attack upon the old convention system of nominating candi- 
dates. Under this system the voters found that their power in 
matters of party management was slipping away, and that their 
wishes were being ignored and even defied. "In theory," said 
Charles E. Hughes, "party candidates are selected by those who 
have been chosen by the party voters to represent them in conven- 
tions. In practice the delegates to nominating conventions are 
generally mere pieces on the political chess-board, and most of 
them might as well be inanimate so far as their effective participa- 
tion in the choice of candidates is concerned. Party candidates 
are in effect generally appointed by those who have not been in- 
vested with any such appointing power." That is to say, the 
candidates were not, in fact, named by the convention, but by 
self -constituted "bosses" who controlled the convention from the 



THE RENASCENCE OF DEMOCRACY 737 

outside. Accordingly, in order that the voters might cast their ^xxiv 

ballots for candidates of their own choosing, the direct primary 

was instituted. The reform came out of the West. In 1897 Robert 
M. La Follette began to work for direct primaries in Wisconsin 
and in 1903 that State adopted a State-wide primary law. The 
next year Oregon, bringing into use the newly adopted system of 
direct legislation, enacted a law providing for direct nominations. 
Public opinion in almost every section of the country was in favor 
of the reform. State after State abandoned the convention system 
and substituted the direct primary. By 1915 thirty-seven of the 
forty-eight States were nominating candidates by the direct 
method. At first the new primary laws applied to offices created 
under State authority, but presently the voters were given an 
opportunity to express by direct vote their preference in respect 
to Presidential candidates. Oregon in 1910 enacted a Presidential 
preference law, and within two years the device in one form or 
another was in use in thirteen States. 

The desire for direct democracy led to the election of United The 
States senators by popular vote. As far back as 1893 a constitu- Election of 
tional amendment providing for the direct election of senators 
was passed in the House of Representatives by the requisite two 
thirds vote, but it was blocked in the Senate. In succeeding years 
the House again and again passed the amendment, but the Senate 
always resisted the change. At length the reformers by "indirec- 
tion found direction out." In 1904 Oregon, the laboratory in 
which many political experiments were tried, provided that sena- 
torial candidates should be nominated in State-wide primaries; 
that candidates for the State legislature should give a voluntary 
written pledge to vote for the senatorial candidate receiving the 
greatest number of votes at the primaries ; and that the legislature 
when choosing a senator should be regarded as under moral if not 
under legal compulsion to ratify the popular verdict. The Oregon 
plan worked and the new system spread rapidly. By 1910 nearly 
three fourths of the States were nominating candidates for the 
Senate by some kind of popular primary and the legislatures were 
bowing to the will of the people. There was now nothing for the 
Senate to do but give way and consent to an amendment providing 
for popular election in a constitutional manner. In May, 1912, 
the long-desired amendment, which had been carried through both 
branches of Congress, was submitted to the States for ratification. 



Senators 



738 A PROGRESSIVE ERA 

xxxiv -^ was P rom Ptly ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the 

States and thus on May 31, 1913, became a part of the Constitution. 

To the mind of Bryan, who for twenty years had been working 
to secure the popular election of senators, this reform was the 
gateway to other national reforms; and he rejoiced greatly when 
as secretary of state he was called upon officially to proclaim the 
adoption of the amendment. Other statesmen were not so enthusi- 
astic. Senator Root, who opposed the amendment, thought it was 
a dangerous tampering with our institutions. His principal objec- 
tion to the change was that it was inconsistent with the funda- 
mental design of the Senate. "The purpose of the Constitution," 
he said, "was to create in the Senate a body which would be as 
unlike as possible to the other house. It was to be a body more 
secure in its tenure, different in the manner of its election, differ- 
ent in its responsibility, more conservative, more deliberate than 
the other house, which responds year by year to every movement of 
the public mind and the public feeling." 
suTage While the heather was on fire for a democracy that would mean 

the rule of the people, the women proclaimed that they were people 
and demanded the vote. We have seen that before the Civil War 
a movement toward equal suffrage had been made under the leader- 
ship of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. 1 After that war the women in 
the new States of the Far West demanded the ballot, and by 1896 
four States — Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho — had adopted 
woman suffrage. With the rise of the progressive movement the 
campaign for extending the suffrage to women on equal terms with 
men began in earnest. There were coercive reasons now why the 
women should press their claims to political rights. They were 
assuming a greater prominence in political affairs than they had 
ever before attained, and they were going out into the industrial 
and professional world and facing life as men were facing it. The 
census of 1900 showed that upward of 5,000,000 women were en- 
gaged in self-supporting pursuits. The conditions which forced 
women into the industries had a tendency to force them also into 
political strife. When they appealed to the public demanding a 
share in government their claims were listened to, and State after 
State was won for equal suffrage. By 1914, in addition to the four 
States just mentioned, California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, 
1 See p. 315. 



THE RENASCENCE OF DEMOCRACY 739 

and Kansas were allowing women to vote, and the movement was ^xxiv 

sweeping on. 

Another reform which was now receiving popular support had Municipal 
for its aim the better government of our cities. No more worthy 
subject could have claimed the attention of the people, for 
although our urban population was growing at a tremendous rate 
municipal government throughout the land was so corrupt and 
inefficient that it was becoming a national shame and disgrace. 
In the carrying out of their plans the municipal reformers availed 
themselves of the device known as the "short ballot," the purpose 
of which is to enable the voter to make an intelligent choice of 
candidates by making only the most important offices elective and 
voting for only a few officers at a time. In order to apply the 
principle of the short ballot, it was necessary to do away with the 
historic council system with its elaborate and often unwieldy 
organization and establish in its place what came to be known as 
the commission system. The commission form of municipal gov- 
ernment was first set up in Galveston after the disastrous inunda- 
tion of 1900. Galveston was followed by Des Moines, and then 
by other cities in rapid succession. Under the commission system 
large powers, both legislative and executive, are vested in a single 
small group of officers — usually five in number — elected by the 
whole body of voters within the city without regard to the interest 
of any political party. The new plan therefore undertook to lift 
the administration of municipal affairs out of partisan politics. 
The plan worked so well that it grew rapidly in favor, and in the 
course of a few years several hundred cities had adopted the 
commission form. Another municipal reform was the city-manager 
plan. This was a modification, or rather an advanced form, of 
the commission system. It had for its aim a very great concen- 
tration of the executive authority. Where it was adopted the 
entire administration of the affairs of the city was entrusted to a 
single executive officer — the city manager — appointed by the 
elective commission or council. The manager plan was first put 
into operation in 1912 in the little city of Sumter, South Carolina. 
The next year, after the great flood in the Miami Valley, it was 
adopted by Dayton. City after city followed the example of 
Dayton, and within a few years the city manager had been in- 
stalled in more than a hundred municipalities. 



740 A PROGRESSIVE ERA 

xxxiv The Taft Administration 

Taftand Taft was not enamoured of all these reforms. To some of them 

Progres- 

sivism } ie turned a face as hard as flint. Doubting the virtues of direct 

democracy in most of its forms, he shuddered at such an idea as 
the recall of judges. Yet he was not obdurate in his conservatism. 
In most things he was willing that his administration should con- 
form to the progressive spirit of the day. Like Van Buren, he was 
under deep obligations to the President who preceded him, and 
like Van Buren he indicated in his inaugural address on March 4, 
1909, a purpose of following in the footsteps of his distinguished 
predecessor. He doubtless felt that this would not be a difficult 
thing to do, for his predecessor in his administrative methods had 
in the main pursued an essentially conservative course. 
a con- I n selecting his official family the new President surrounded 

cabinet 6 himself with men of the conservative type, the kind of men with 
whom he had been accustomed to associate in the Roosevelt cabinet. 
Two members of the existing cabinet were retained. These were 
James Wilson of Iowa, the veteran secretary of agriculture, and 
George von L. Meyer of Massachusetts, who was transferred from 
the Post-office to the Navy Department. Philander C. Knox, who 
served under Roosevelt as attorney-general in 1901-04, was selected 
as secretary of state. The other members of the Taft cabinet were : 
Franklin MacVeagh of Illinois, secretary of the treasury ; J. M. 
Dickinson of Tennessee, secretary of war; R. A. Ballinger of the 
State of Washington, secretary of the interior; Charles Nagel of 
Missouri, secretary of commerce and labor ; George W. Wickersham 
of New York, attorney-general; and F. H. Hitchcock of Massa- 
chusetts, postmaster-general. All the members of the new cabinet 
but two were lawyers. 

There was nothing peculiar in the composition of this cabinet ; 
yet as soon as its make-up was announced the President was sub- 
jected to a fire of criticism. He was charged with having surren- 
dered to reactionary influences. Instead of retaining the Roose- 
velt secretaries he had appointed a "lawyers' cabinet" and had 
surrendered to corporation attorneys. There was nothing in the 
situation to justify animadversions of this sort. Of the seven 
Roosevelt secretaries who were passed over by Taft, five were 
lawyers, one (Truman H. Newberry, the secretary of navy), a 
business man with extensive corporation connections, and one 



THE TAFT ADMINISTRATION 741 

(Robert Bacon, the secretary of state), a banker who had been a xxxTv 

member of the firm of J. P. Morgan. The cabinet selected by Taft 

was no more lawyer-ridden and no more corporation-ridden than 
was the cabinet which was in existence when he began his term. 

In accordance with tariff promises made in the Republican plat- ^fjjf 116 " 
form in 1908, President Taft called Congress to meet in extra ses- Tarifl 
sion on March 15 in order that consideration might be given at 
once to the bill revising the Dingley Act. Without delay Sereno 
E. Payne of New York brought into the House a bill prepared by 
the Committee on Ways and Means. After a rather brief and per- 
functory debate the measure was passed in the House by a vote 
of 217 to 161, one Republican opposing it and four Democrats 
supporting it. It then went to the Senate, where as usual the 
sentiment was for duties higher than those fixed by the House. The 
fight for changes that would make the bill more acceptable to the 
protected interests was led by Senator Aldrich, one of the ablest 
men in Congress. "Alert, astute, somewhat cynical, silent except 
when questions were to be answered, he was known to be excep- 
tionally familiar with all branches of the country's industries, and 
to be armed cap-a-pie against attack from every quarter. ' ' 1 When 
the bill came from the deft hands of this master 847 changes had 
been made, many of them important and most of them in the 
direction of higher rates. The bill as it came from the House had 
revised the rates generally in a downward direction. When the 
measure went to the conference committee President Taft, who 
had pledged himself to a downward revision, intervened with his 
influence and succeeded in getting hides on the free list. He also- 
succeeded in having a tax on the net earnings of corporations sub- 
stituted for an inheritance tax. In the main, however, the measure 
came from conference in a form that suited Aldrich. After a 
considerable amount of legislative jockeying the bill was passed 
by both houses and became a law on August 5, 1909. 

The Payne-Aldrich Bill was a conspicuous application of the 
doctrine that the "true principle of protection is best maintained 
by the imposition of such duties as will equal the difference be- 
tween the cost of production at home and abroad, together with a 
reasonable profit to American industries." That is .to say, the 
Aldrich Law, like the Dingley and McKinley bills, simply con- 
tinued the policy of guaranteeing a profit to the American manu- 

1 F. A. Ogg, "National Progress," p. 331. 



742 



A PROGRESSIVE ERA 



The 

I'inehot- 
Uallinger 
v lontroversy 



facturer. In the opinion of Professor Taussig the new law made 
no essential change in our tariff system. "It still left," he said, 
"an extremely high scheme of rates and still showed an extremely 
intolerant attitude on foreign trade." On metals, lumber, and 
leather the duties were slightly reduced, but the rates on woolen 
goods (schedule K) were left virtually untouched. Upon hosiery 
and all the better grades of cotton goods, the rates which prevailed 
under the Dingley Bill were raised. 

While the Payne-Aldrich Bill was before Congress the country 
could see that harmony among the Republican leaders had ceased 
to exist. In the House there was an influential group of recalci- 
trants led by Representatives Murdock of Kansas and Norris of 
Nebraska, who were constantly challenging the authority of the 
conservative leaders and obstructing them in their plans. These 
insurgents called themselves "progressives," while the epithet of 
"stand-patters" was bestowed upon the conservatives. In the 
Senate the tide of insurgency was equally strong, if not stronger. 
Here Dolliver of Iowa, Bristow of Kansas, and La Follette of Wis- 
consin, all of whom favored a general downward revision of the 
tariff, denounced the Payne-Aldrich Bill in unsparing terms, and 
made strenuous efforts to defeat it. The strength of the insurgent 
element was shown when the final vote on the bill was taken : 
twenty Republican representatives and seven Republican senators 
refused to vote for it. 

At the very time that insurgency was boiling in Congress there 
was raging in executive circles a storm that was widening the rift 
between Republican "progressives" and the "stand-patters." The 
apple of discord was the Pinchot-Ballinger controversy. President 
Roosevelt just before he retired from office withdrew from sale 
large tracts of public land on which there was much valuable water- 
power. He did this in order to prevent the water-power sites from 
falling into the hands of syndicates and corporations Ballinger, 
the new secretary of the interior, regarding the action of the 
former President as not within the letter of the law, at once re- 
voked the order for withdrawal, and in doing so drew fire from the 
chief forester, Gifford Pinchot, a warm personal friend of Roose- 
velt and a champion of conservation. Pinchot, in a public address, 
asserted that the water-power sites were being grabbed by a trust. 
His speech created a sensation and was interpreted as an attack 
upon Ballinger, who was his official superior. The result of the 



THE TAFT ADMINISTRATION 743 

chief forester's charges was to create an impression in the public ^xxiv 
mind that Ballinger was in league with men who were aiming to " 
secure control of the nation's natural resources. The distrust of 
Ballinger was deepened when L. R. Glavis, an employee in the 
Interior Department, declared that Ballinger before entering the 
cabinet had acted as attorney for the men who were pushing the 
claims — known as the Cunningham claims — to valuable coal de- 
posits in Alaska. Glavis contended that the claims were fraudu- 
lent, and there was a popular suspicion that they were part of a 
conspiracy by the "Morganheims" — as the Morgan-Guggenheim 
syndicate was sometimes called — to get possession of vast natural 
resources in Alaska. 1 These charges were examined by the Presi- 
dent, with the result that Ballinger was exonerated and Glavis 
dismissed from the service. Pinchot then came forward in defense 
of Glavis, and the chief forester, too, was removed from office in 
January, 1910. A joint committee of Congress investigated the 
matter and after exhaustive hearings reported by a party vote that 
the charges against Secretary Ballinger were unsustained by the 
evidence given. But the investigation was stigmatized as white- 
washing. Ballinger retired from the Cabinet. Although the 
charges against him may not have had sufficient merit to carry 
conviction they nevertheless had an important bearing upon cur- 
rent politics. The controversy caused many of ex-President 
Roosevelt's followers to break away from Taft and yearn for the 
old leadership. 

Coincident with the Ballinger-Pinchot incident, and of the same The 0v er- 
cloth politically, was the movement in the House of Representa- »camion- 
tives against " Cannonism. " The speaker, Joseph G. Cannon of 
Illinois, was dominating the procedure of the House in a way that 
"Czar" Reed had never dreamed of. Under the rules the speaker 
had the power of appointing all of the committees and designating 
the chairmen. Moreover, he controlled that powerful engine of 
procedure, the Committee on Rules, which has the power of bring- 
ing in at any time a "special rule" or order appointing a certain 
time for the consideration of a bill and can determine the condi- 
tions of debate — how long members may speak, whether amend- 
ments to a bill may be offered or not, when a vote shall be taken. 

1 It was afterward admitted by a representative of the Morgan-Guggenheim 
syndicate that his company held options on many of the Cunningham claims, all 
of which were in time declared by the courts to be valid. 



ism 



744 A PROGRESSIVE ERA 

This committee consisted of five persons, the speaker, two Repub- 
licans, and two Democrats. As the Republican members were 
appointed by Cannon and it was easy to ignore the Democrats, 
the speaker was virtually the whole committee and could generally 
exercise a substantial control over the business of the House. The 
insurgents, who had felt the "heavy hand" of "Uncle Joe" on 
different occasions, set out to break his power. George W. Norris, 
on March 19, 1909, introduced a resolution to increase the number 
of members of the Committee on Rules from five to ten, to provide 
for the election of all members by the House, and to exclude the 
speaker from membership. When objection was made that the 
resolution was out of order there began a spectacular parliamen- 
tary battle. On one side were the insurgents and Democrats trying 
to get a vote on the resolution. On the other side were the speaker 
and his "stand-pat" Republican supporters attempting to post- 
pone the vote until absentee friends could be brought in. When at 
last after twenty-six hours of continuous session had passed and 
when the voting could be no longer postponed the speaker ruled 
that the resolution offered by Norris was out of order. On an 
appeal from his decision, thirty-five Republican insurgents voted 
with the entire body of Democrats and the speaker was overruled. 
Thereupon a rule closely following the Norris resolution was 
adopted. Thus "Cannonism" was overthrown. 1 

The dissension within his party did not prevent the President 
from giving the country a good administration. His management 
of the finances was admirable. When he took hold fiscal affairs 
were not in a healthy condition. The outgo was greater than the 
income and there was a deficit of $50,000,000 staring him in the 
face. By prudence and firmness he not only filled up the hole but 
handed on to his successor a very substantial surplus. He was a 
good friend to conservation, even if he was charged with being its 
enemy. The places made vacant by the dismissal of Pinchot and 
his associates were filled by men who were loyal to the policy 
of conservation. Many millions of acres of the public domain 
upon which there were water-power sites, and vast stores of coal 
and minerals were withdrawn from entry and thus reserved for 
the people. The army was reorganized on the basis of greater 

1 Two years later when the Democrats had a majority they took from the 
speaker the appointment of all remaining standing committees and thus com- 
pleted the reform. The speaker was now a presiding officer and nothing more. 



THE TAFT ADMINISTRATION 745 

efficiency and economy and the administration of naval affairs was ^^rv 

materially improved. To these administrative matters President 

Taft gave his best energy, believing that his highest duty was not 
to secure legislation but to execute the statutes which he found 
on the books. 

Although Taft was a conservative, a great volume of progressive Progressive 

Measures 

legislation was passed during his administration. It was bound 
to be progressive, for the spirit of the nation was inclined that' 
way. Among the constructive measures was an act passed in June, 
1910, establishing a system of postal savings-banks. These banks 
were designed as depositories in which the savings of thrifty 
people might be deposited with absolute safety and at the same 
time bear 2y 2 per cent interest. Another act in May, 1910, estab- 
lished the bureau of mines. The main object of this law was to 
provide for investigation into the causes and means of preventing 
mine accidents with the view of lessening the losses of life and 
waste of resources in the mineral industries of the country. Still 
another law in harmony with the progressive movement was the 
act of June, 1910, which required the publication of the names 
of persons contributing to the Federal campaign funds of the 
political parties and the amounts contributed, as well as a detailed 
account of the expenditures of the committees and the purposes 
for which the expenses were incurred. 

The most important law passed during the Taft administration Giving 
was one increasing the power of the interstate commerce commis- Railroad 
sion over railroads. As the Hepburn Act 1 had failed by reason 
of its weakness, Congress in June, 1910, passed the Mann-Elkins 
Act. This was a law that had teeth in it. Under the Hepburn 
Act the commission could reduce a rate upon the complaint of a 
shipper, but experience showed that before an order for rate 
reduction could be carried out a very long time must elapse and 
the shipper must continue to bear the burden of the unreasonable 
rate. The Mann-Elkins Law therefore came to the relief of the 
shipper by giving the commission power to make investigations 
upon its own motion and with its own agents, and if it found rates 
unreasonable it was authorized to change them, even though 
shippers had made no complaint. Moreover, under the new law, 
proposed new rates could be suspended in their operation by the 
act of the commission, and if they were found by that body to 

1 See p. 718. 



Law 



746 



A PROGRESSIVE ERA 



CHAP. 
XXXIV 



Roosevelt 
and the 
"stand- 
patters" 



The "New 
National- 
ism" 



be unjust or unreasonable they could not be put into operation 
at all. In the original bill there was a clause forbidding issues of 
railroad stocks and bonds unless approved by the commission. 
This was a provision of the utmost importance, for many of the 
evils attending railroad management grew out of the unwise and 
unregulated issuance of stocks and bonds. But the proposed re- 
form was strangled; the clause relating to the regulation of bond 
issues was stricken out in the Senate. 

While Congress in the summer of 1910 was engaged in making 
these laws, members were looking forward to the congressional 
elections that were to be held in the autumn. As the eyes of the 
Republicans swept the political skies they could not help seeing 
that a storm was portending and that the outlook for their party 
was dark. The Payne-Aldrich Tariff was an unpopular measure, 
and was sure to bring about a fight in the Western States. The 
Republican insurgents were becoming more troublesome, and it 
seemed that the party was about to split. The cost of living was 
increasing and was producing discontent. Furthermore, ex- 
President Roosevelt was back from Africa whither he had gone for 
a hunting trip. Would his tremendous influence be thrown to the 
insurgents or to the old-timers of the party? The country was not 
long in finding out on which side Colonel Roosevelt stood. Enter- 
ing into the fray of New York State politics, he unhorsed William 
Barnes and his stand-pat associates and secured control of the 
party organization. On a speaking tour which he made through 
the country he gave unmistakable signs that the insurgent element 
of his party could rely upon his support. At Ossawatomie, Kansas, 
he delivered an address on August 31, 1910, in which he set forth 
his creed of New Nationalism. Changed conditions, he said in this 
address, required labor legislation, direct primaries, the recall of 
elective officers, a more thorough control of corporations, and pro- 
gressive legislation in regard to income taxes. The power of the 
Federal Government, he urged, should be brought into use for 
eliminating the "twilight zone" 1 between State and nation, that 
"neutral ground" which served as a refuge for law-breakers. 
"The New Nationalism," he said, "puts the national need before 
sectional or personal advantages. It is impatient of the utter con- 
fusion that results from local legislatures attempting to treat 
national issues as local issues." The result of the campaign was 

*See p. 596. 



meats 



THE TAFT ADMINISTRATION 747 

a victory for the Democrats greater than they had dared to ex- char 

pect. Aided by the factional differences in the ranks of the oppo- 

sition they secured a majority of more than sixty in the House of 
Representatives, while in nine States the Republicans were ousted 
from legislatures that would elect United States senators. Demo- 
cratic governors were elected in such Republican strongholds as 
Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey. In New 
Jersey the successful candidate for governor was Woodrow Wilson, 
a scholar in politics and a former president of Princeton Uni- 
versity. 

President Taft now had to deal not only with the Republican TwoCon- 

., •it-x • •••1-i-t 11 stitutional 

insurgents but with a Democratic majority m the House as well. Amend- 
During the second half of his term, therefore, he could not expect 
smooth sailing. Still, this period was by no means barren of pro- 
gressive measures; for there were progressives among the Demo- 
crats as well as among the Republicans. Two constitutional amend- 
ments were submitted by Congress to the States for ratification. 
One of these provided for the popular election of senators, a sub- 
ject which has already received attention. 1 The other empowered 
Congress to levy an income tax without the necessity of apportion- 
ing it among the States according to population. Both amend- 
ments were ratified. The income tax amendment was proclaimed 
a part of the Constitution on February 25, 1913 ; the other about 
three months later. The Post-office Department was authorized 
on August, 1912, to establish a parcel-post system whereby pack- 
ages of considerable weight might be sent through the mails at 
little cost. A Department of Labor was organized with a secre- 
tary who was to be a member of the cabinet. In the new depart- 
ment was established a children's bureau, whose duty should be 
to investigate and report upon all matters pertaining to the welfare 
of children and child life. President Taft secured from Congress 
authority for entering into a reciprocity pact with Canada whereby 
it was agreed that the duties on certain Canadian products, such 
as lumber, paper, and wheat, should be abolished or lowered while 
corresponding concessions should be made to American agricul- 
tural implements and certain other American commodities. Noth- 
ing, however, came of the reciprocity movement, for the people of 
Canada by a popular vote expressed their disapproral of the 
arrangement. 
1 See p. 738. 



748 



A PROGRESSIVE ERA 



CHAP. 
XXXIV 



The 

Rounding 
Out of the 

Sisterhood 
of States 



The Legal 
Warfare 
Against 
the Trusts 



During the Taft administration the Federal organization of the 
contiguous territory of the United States was completed. The 
admission of Oklahoma as a State was proclaimed by President 
Roosevelt. The stream of emigration which had begun to pour 
into the New Southwest in the early nineties * flowed steadily, with 
the result that by 1900 the combined population of the Indian 
and Oklahoma Territories amounted to nearly 800,000. A pro- 
tracted struggle to obtain statehood for Oklahoma ended in 1907 
by uniting Indian and Oklahoma Territories and admitting the 
amalgamated community as the State of Oklahoma. When Okla- 
homa entered the Union it was already a great and powerful 
State, for its population was nearly 1,500,000 and its wealth was 
vast. Development in the New Southwest extended to New Mexico 
and Arizona, and by 1912 these Territories were ready for state- 
hood and were admitted. With the admission of New Mexico and 
Arizona the story of the westward movement came to an end and 
the sisterhood of States was rounded out. 

President Taft's law officer carried forward the suits which 
were brought against the trusts under the Sherman Law in the 
Roosevelt administration, 2 and in 1911 he secured decisions by 
the Supreme Court in the case of the Standard Oil Co. and the 
American Tobacco Co. Both companies were declared guilty of 
violating the Sherman Anti-trust Law and were ordered to dis- 
solve and break up into their component parts. They were also 
restrained ''from by whatever device recreating directly or in- 
directly the illegal combination." In the written opinion which 
dissolved the Standard Oil Co. was an obiter dictum 3 to the effect 
thUt'the Sherman Act should not be construed as prohibiting all 
contracts and agreements that may seem to restrain trade but only 
such as in their nature are unreasonable and contrary to the gen- 
eral welfare. That is to say, the court wrote into the statute the 
' ' rule of reason ' ' : before it can be said that a contract or a com- 
bination is within the purview of the prohibition of the Sherman 
Law the unreasonableness of that contract or combination must 
be demonstrated. Since in our constitutional history the obiter 
dictum of a decision, like a woman 's postscript to a letter, has often 

a See p. 625. 

a See p. 705. 

8 "A decision of a court is its solution of a litigated controversy; an obiter 
dictum of a judge is a statement of some idea upon which that solution does 
not depend." ("American Law Review"; Vol. XLV, p. 719.) 



ARMAGEDDON 749 

been the most important part of the document, the "rule of |lirv 

reason" announced by the court attracted more attention than 

the fate of the company which was dissolved. In the business 
world the new interpretation was warmly acclaimed: "It frees 
honest business men," said "The New York Times," "from their 
doubts, from their dread, from their want of confidence almost 
akin to despair. It is an emancipation proclamation issued to the 
industries of the United States." But the rule of sweet reason- 
ableness had its critics, none of whom was more severe than a "JIi eRu1 !. 

7 of Reason 

member of the Supreme Court itself, Justice Harlan, who in a 
dissenting opinion regarded the obiter dictum as nothing less than 
an amendment to the statute, and said : ' ' The most alarming ten- 
dency of this day, so far as the integrity of our institutions is 
concerned, is the tendency to judicial legislation, so that, when 
men having vast interests are concerned and they cannot get the 
lawmaking power of the country which controls it to pass the 
legislation they desire, the next thing they do is to raise the ques- 
tion in some case to get the court to construe the Constitution 
or the statute as to mean what they want it to mean. ' ' 

Aside from the suspicion that the "rule of reason" might have 
lurking within it implications of a dangerous nature the decisions 
gave general satisfaction. The enforced dissolution of the two 
mammoth combinations was hailed as a great victory over the 
trusts. But it was hardly anything more than a legal victory. 
The economic effects of the dissolution were practically imper- 
ceptible. Competition in the industries affected by the decision 
was not restored, monopoly was not checked, the power of the old 
holding company was not broken. The stocks of the Standard Oil 
group advanced thirty points within five days after the decision 
for dissolution was rendered, and within a few months after the 
dissolution was effected the combined market valuation of the 
several disassociated properties jumped from $660,000,000 to 
$885,000,000. 

Armageddon 
The trust decisions were handed down at the time the politicians The 

P rosf rt?s s i v6 

were beginning to take thought of the coming campaign. That Republicans 

... liii Organize 

there was trouble ahead for the Republicans everybody could see, 
for the tide of insurgency within their ranks was rising higher 
and higher. President Taft was in the field for renomination, but 



750 A PROGRESSIVE ERA 

xxxiv hi s candidacy was bitterly opposed by the progressive element of 

his party. Early in 1911 the National Progressive Republican 

League was organized with the view ,of carrying forward the work 
of reform. The organizers of the league included many of the 
insurgents in Congress and leaders like Louis Brandeis, Gifford 
Pinchot, and William Henry White. Although the league did" 
not positively pledge itself to the support of any candidate, at a 
conference held later in the year it declared that Senator Robert 
La Follette was "the logical candidate for President on account 
of his experience, character, courage, his record of constructive 
legislation and administrative ability." La Follette had led a 
reform movement in Wisconsin that had made his State a thor- 
oughly progressive community and he had enthusiastic followers 
in parts of the West and Middle West. Encouraged by the en- 
dorsement which the league had given to his leadership and rely- 
ing upon the following which he had in different parts of the 
country, he offered himself as a candidate for the Republican 
nomination and in December began his campaign with a speech- 
making tour. On February 2, 1912, while addressing a meeting 
of publishers in Philadelphia, he fell into language that was inco- 
herent and injudicious; it was understood that the speech was 
made at a moment when the senator was laboring under a severe 
physical strain, but the effect of the harangue upon his candidacy 
was harmful. 
Colonel's It was not only the unfortunate speech that was now working 

the 1 Ring against La Follette. Republican progressives were coming to be- 
lieve that he could not win the election even if he received the 
nomination. Their minds accordingly turned to ex-President 
Roosevelt, believing that he could win both the nomination and 
election. But would Colonel Roosevelt accept a nomination if 
it should be offered to him? He had said at the time of his elec- 
tion in 1904 that under no circumstances would he be a candidate 
or accept another nomination. 1 Would he interpret this declara- 
tion as barring him from running again ? The answer to this ques- 
tion was soon given. In February, 1912, the governors of seven 
States addressed a letter to Roosevelt declaring their belief "that 
a large majority of the Republican voters of the country desired 
his nomination, and a large majority of the people of the United 
States favored his election." Replying to this letter on February 
1 See p. 722. 



ARMAGEDDON 751 

24 Roosevelt said that he would accept the nomination if it were ^xxiv 

tendered him. Thus the Colonel's hat, as he expressed it, was in 

the ring. 

Roosevelt entered the campaign as the avowed leader of the A eadershi 
progressive wing of his party. La Follette declined to withdraw challenged 
from the race, insisting that he was the rightful as well as the 
logical progressive candidate. Roosevelt, he said, had always 
worked with conservatives and had been converted to progressive 
ideas only at the eleventh hour. There was a great deal of truth 
in this; the calendar was not in Roosevelt's favor. He was not a 
pioneer in the progressive movement. Indeed, his critics were fond 
of saying that he was a belated follower in that movement. He 
was many times cartooned as wearing political clothing which 
he had stolen from Bryan. His tardiness in joining the ranks 
of the reformers caused Bryan to become somewhat sarcastic. 
"My only regret," said that progressive Democrat, "is that we 
have not had the benefit of his [Roosevelt's] powerful assistance 
during the campaigns in which we have protested against the 
domination of politics by predatory corporations. He probably 
feels more strongly stirred to action to-day because he was so long 
unconscious of the forces at work thwarting the popular will. The 
fact, too, that he has won prestige and position for himself and 
friends through the support of the very influences which he now 
so righteously denounces must still further increase the sense of 
responsibility which he feels at this time." 

The contest for delegates to the Republican national convention ASon-y 

Controversy 

was a rough-and-tumble fight in which blows fell fast and furious. 
In the States where delegates were chosen at direct primaries the 
candidates took the stump and the air resounded with loud and 
acrimonious appeals to the voters. Roosevelt had no apology to 
make for the course he had taken. He was joyously confident 
that he was the rightful leader of a righteous cause. In a letter 
written in May he said: "It is evident that not only every pro- 
gressive Republican, but every man who believes in decency and 
honesty in politics, can advance his purposes only by supporting 
my candidacy. My personal interest is of no concern one way or 
the other, but it happens that at this time I typify and embody 
the great cause which can only be furthered by supporting me." 
Taft, likening himself to a man standing with his back to the wall, 
fought with all his might for his political life. He saw blue ruin 



752 



A PROGRESSIVE ERA 



CHAP. 
XXXIV 



Taft Re- 
nominated 



A Turbulent 
Convention 



for the country if the progressives should win and he characterized 
them as political emotionalists and neurotics who were undertak- 
ing to pull down the pillars of the temple of representative govern- 
ment. The discussion was marred by many heated personalities. 
When Roosevelt charged Taft with being in alliance with the 
bosses to secure his renomination, the President retorted that he 
was only accepting the kind of support from the bosses that the 
ex-President had always accepted. Upon one occasion Roosevelt 
felt it necessary to remind the President that "it is a bad trait to 
bite the hand that feeds you. ' ' It was indeed a sorry controversy 
and a sorry spectacle. 

Roosevelt's triumph in the primary contest was complete. Of 
the 362 delegates chosen at the polls he received 278, while Taft 
received forty-eight, and La Follette thirty-six. When the 
national Republican convention met in Chicago on June 6, of the 
1078 delegates some 411 were pledged to Roosevelt and about 250 
to Taft. More than 250 of the seats were contested. The con- 
tests were decided by the national committee, which was controlled 
by conservatives who were ready to go to extremes to prevent 
the nomination of Roosevelt. Senator Penrose was willing to 
"scuttle" the party rather than surrender to the progressives. 
The "steam-roller" was therefore brought into service and all the 
contested seats but nineteen were awarded to Taft. Thus all 
chance of a progressive victory was gone unless the convention 
could be induced to reverse the decisions of the national commit- 
tee in respect to the contested delegates. Roosevelt hastened to 
Chicago to conduct his fight in person. To an enthusiastic crowd 
outside the convention hall, standing, as he said, at Armageddon, 
battling for the Lord, he denounced the quashing of his contested 
cases as "naked theft." But protestation was vain. The "steam- 
roller" was as merciless in the convention as it had been in the 
national committee. Elihu Root was chosen first as temporary 
and afterward as permanent chairman; the decisions of the 
national committee were sustained in all cases but one; and when 
the convention roll was made up there were about 560 delegates 
for Taft, or about twenty more than a majority. The President 
was accordingly renominated. 

Since it was now plain that the Republican party was split wide 
open, the Democrats entered the contest in hopeful and jubilant 
mood. Their pre-convention campaign was vigorous enough, but 



ARMAGEDDON 753 

was mildness itself when compared with the turbulence of their %xxiv 

opponents. Their leading candidates were Champ Clark of Mis- 

souri, Judson Harmon of Ohio, Oscar Underwood of Alabama, and 
Woodrow Wilson. Just before the assembling of their convention 
at Baltimore on June 25, Bryan sent to each of the Democratic 
candidates an identical telegram calling attention to the fact that 
plans were on foot for turning the convention over to the conserva- 
tives and insisting that it must be organized by progressives. The 
only candidate who answered the telegram in a manner satisfac- 
tory to the sender was Governor Wilson, who said: "You are 
quite right. . . . The Baltimore convention is to be a convention 
of progressives, of men who are progressive in principle and by 
conviction. ' ' The prayer by which the convention was opened was 
no sooner ended than Bryan stepped to the platform as the cham- 
pion of the progressives. In the proceedings which followed he 
rose to heights of leadership that he had never before attained. 
At first he was outvoted and apparently put down ; but he quickly 
recovered and was soon impressing his will upon the convention, 
carrying his points triumphantly on every important question that 
arose. On the third day he offered a resolution declaring the 
convention "opposed to the nomination of any candidate for 
President who is the representative of or under obligations to J. 
Pierpont Morgan, Thomas F. Ryan, August Belmont, or any other 
member of the privilege-hunting and favor-seeking class." There 
was a tremendous uproar of dissent, but the resolution was adopted 
by an overwhelming vote. The balloting then began. On the first 
ballot Clark had more votes than any other candidate. On the 
tenth ballot he had a majority but was far from having the two 
thirds vote required by Democratic conventions. After the four- 
teenth ballot Bryan, who had been instructed for Clark and had 
been voting for him, created a fresh sensation by announcing in 
an impassioned speech that he would transfer his vote from Clark 
to Wilson. He made this change, he said, because the New York 
delegates, who on the tenth ballot had shifted their ninety votes 
from Harmon to Clark, were in the hands of Charles F. Murphy, 
the Tammany leader. If Murphy, he said, could nominate Clark 
the nominee would be under obligations to the three men named 
in his condemnatory resolution. After this change of front on 
the part of Bryan, the Clark vote began gradually to decline, while 
the Wilson vote gradually rose. At the thirtieth ballot Wilson led 



754 



A PROGRESSIVE ERA 



CHAP. 
XXXIV 



Roosevelt 
Nominated 
by the 
Progressive 
Parry 



The 
Socialists 



The 

Platforms 
in 1912 



for the first time, and on the forty-sixth he was nominated by a 
vote of 990 to eighty-four. 

Now that the Democrats had a nominee of progressive tendencies 
running on a progressive platform, what would the progressive 
Republicans do? Or, more to the point, what would their great 
leader do 1 This question, uppermost in men 's minds from the day 
that Taft was nominated, was answered on August 5, when a 
convention of men and women met in Chicago and organized the 
Progressive party. 1 A high pitch of enthusiasm dominated the 
proceedings of the convention and "Onward, Christian Soldiers" 
was sung by the delegates with a fervor that indicated the cam- 
paign was to be a great moral and spiritual crusade. Roosevelt 
was present and made a speech called his "confession of faith," 
which was a plea for social and industrial justice and an indict- 
ment of both the old parties as boss-ridden and privilege-controlled. 
Of course he was chosen as the standard-bearer of the new party. 
Hiram Johnson of California was selected as his running mate. 

The Socialists for the fourth time nominated Eugene V. Debs 
and declared substantially for the social and political reforms 
they had been demanding in previous campaigns. They were 
for the collective ownership of the means of transportation and 
also of those industries which were organized on a national scale, 
and in which competition no longer existed. They declared for a 
graduated inheritance and income tax and for the general adop- 
tion of those political devices that would bring the Government 
under the direct control of the people. 

The platforms all reflected the spirit of the progressive move- 
ment. Even the Republicans declared for laws limiting the hours 
of labor for women and children, for working-men's compensation 
acts, for reforms in legal procedure, and for a simpler process 
than impeachment for the removal of judges. The Democratic 
platform was in the main the handiwork of Bryan and was a 
distinctly progressive document. The Progressive platform de- 
clared for direct democracy in all its forms, for woman suffrage, 
conservation, the Federal control of corporations engaged in inter- 
state commerce, and for a sweeping program of laws that would 



1 When Roosevelt arrived in Chicago to look after his interests at the Re- 
publican convention he remarked that he felt like a "bull moose." This ex- 
pression afterward was used as the popular name of the Progressive party, 
aud the "bull moose" was adopted as the emblem of the new organization. 



PROGRESSIVE LEGISLATION 755 

establish social and industrial justice. The subject that received xfxrv 
the most attention was the tariff. Here the platform language - 
was vague and evasive, as platform utterances since the days of 
Jackson had generally been. The Democrats were for a tariff for 
revenue, on the ground that they believed a protective tariff was 
unconstitutional. The Republicans declared for the "maintenance 
of a protective tariff with a reduction of duties that may be too 
high." The Progressives demanded "immediate downward re- 
visions of those schedules where duties are shown to be unjust or 
excessive." That is to say, in its essence the tariff plank of the 
Progressives was as much like the plank of the Republicans as 
one pea is like another. 

The campaign was the noisiest since "Tippecanoe and Tyler The Cam- 
too. " From first to last it was dominated by Colonel Roosevelt's 
marvelous personality. Throwing himself into the conflict as a 
champion of the people, he captured their imagination, and by 
November "the Bull Moose call was echoing in every forest, and 
great herds were pouring through every valley and dale." Never 
before in the history of politics did a man go out and make such 
an effective appeal to an electorate. But there was little doubt 
what the outcome of the election would be. From the moment 
that Roosevelt entered the field as a candidate it seemed certain 
that he would draw enough votes from the Republican party to 
defeat its nominee. And that is what happened: Taft was de- 
feated, and so overwhelmingly that Roosevelt, when the returns 
were reported to him on election night, was led to exclaim : ' ' We 
have annihilated the Republican party." Of the 531 electoral 
votes Wilson received 435, Roosevelt eighty-eight, and Taft eight. 
The popular vote was 6,293,019 for Wilson, 4,119,507 for Roosevelt, 
3,484,956 for Taft, and 901,873 for Debs. 

Progressive Legislation 

The political flight of Woodrow Wilson was made with the JSS5S" 
speed of an arrow. Within two years after his first appearance in Leader 
public life he was elected to the Presidency. He brought to the 
high office, therefore, only a small practical experience in public 
affairs. But he was a born politician, using the word in its very 
best sense, and the genius of his mind fitted him for the tasks of 
government. In the realm of political science he had long been 



756 A PROGRESSIVE ERA 

xxxfv distinguished as the master interpreter of American institutions 

and ideals. In 1879, at the early age of twenty-three, he wrote 

for a magazine an essay on cabinet government which revealed 
his power of brilliant analysis. Six years later this essay was 
amplified and published as "Congressional Government," the 
greatest disquisition on the American political system that had 
appeared since "The Federalist." In this book of his youth was 
the outline of his political philosophy. Here was taught the doc- 
trine that the President ought to be the leader of his party, that 
he had the right to plan as well as to execute, and that he was at 
liberty in law and in conscience to be as big a man as he could. 
andthe The political sagacity of the new President was shown in his 

sivef res attitude toward the progressive movement and the Progressives 
themselves. He realized that although the Progressive party had 
been defeated at the polls progressivism was the controlling force 
in American life. Reform was in the air, and men of all parties 
were reaching out for something better than they had. He real- 
ized too that his position as leader was by no means secure. He 
was a minority President and his party was lacking in cohesion. 
In the House there was a Democratic majority that would hardly 
fail him, but in the Senate the margin of Democratic control was 
too narrow for comfort, He therefore strengthened his leadership 
by frankly making friends of the Progressives. He advised with 
them, appointed their leaders to offices, and as far as practicable 
adopted their program of reform. He had not been a champion 
of the progressive movement in its formative period, yet as gov- 
ernor of New Jersey and as President he was as good a progressive 
as there was in the country. 

Progressivism was kept in mind when he selected his cabinet. 1 
Bryan was appointed secretary of state, not because of his services 
at the Baltimore convention, not because he was specially fitted 
by training or temperament for the position, for it could hardly 

1 The composition of the cabinet during the two terms of President Wilson 
was as follows: secretary of state, W. J. Bryan (to 1915), R. Lansing (to 
1920), B. Colby; secretary of the treasury, W. G. McAdoo, C. Glass, D. F. 
Houston ; secretary of war, L. M. Garrison, N. D. Baker ; attorney-general, 
J. C. McReynolds, T. W. Gregory, A. M. Palmer ; postmaster-general. A. S. 
Burleson; secretary of the navy, J. Daniels; secretary of the interior, F. K. 
Lane, J. B. Payne; secretary of agriculture, David F. Houston, Edward T. 
Meredith; secretary of commerce, W. C. Redfield, J. W. Alexander; secretary 
of labor, W. B. Wilson. 



PROGRESSIVE LEGISLATION 757 

be said that he was, but because he was the spokesman of the ^xxiv 

progressive element within the Democratic party. In the East 

there was an outcry against the appointment of the Commoner, 
but the President had to reckon with the West and the South. 
"Bryan," says W. E. Dodd, "had been the only leader who had 
supported an idealistic rank and file of the Democratic party in 
the West. And his followers in the South were just those men 
who had not yielded to the materialistic boss and industrialist 
system. ' ' 

Although the President expected to govern through the agency £ ( L r e °^ am 
of his party, it was not partisan ends that he hoped to achieve. In lation 
his inaugural address, referring to the change which had brought 
the Democrats into power, he said : "It means much more than 
the mere success of a party. The success of a party means little 
except when the nation is using that party for a large and definite 
purpose." The purposes which the President had in mind were 
foreshadowed in the following words: "We have itemized with 
some degree of particularity the things that ought to be altered 
and here are some of them : A tariff which cuts us from our 
proper part in the commerce of the world, violates the just 
principles of taxation, and makes the Government a facile instru- 
ment in the hands of private interests: a banking and currency 
system based upon the necessity of the Government to sell its 
bonds fifty years ago and perfectly adapted to concentrating cash 
and restricting credits; an industrial system, which, take it on 
all its sides — financial as well as administrative, — holds capital in 
leading-strings, restricts the liberties and limits the opportunities 
of labor, and exploits, without renewing or conserving, the national 
resources of the country." It was plain that the President ex- 
pected his party to take definite action upon the tariff question, 
upon the currency question, and upon the trust question. 

The tariff question was taken up first. When Congress had been The 

x A _ Underwood 

assembled in extra session, President Wilson, on April 7, breaking Tari ff 
the precedent established by Jefferson in 1801, x read his message 
from the speaker's desk to the members of both houses sitting in 
joint session. It was his idea that the appearance of the President 
in person would make for the cooperation of the executive and 
legislative departments. In his message he declared that the 
country wanted the tariff changed, and he urged upon the law- 
1 See p. 188. 



758 



A PROGRESSIVE ERA 



makers the necessity of a prompt, effective, and downward revision. 
The machinery for prompt action had already been set in motion, 
and in due course a bill was brought into the House by Oscar 
Underwood and quickly passed. In the Senate there was delay, 
due as usual to the obstructive tactics of the protected interests. 
But when the President issued a statement denouncing the 
"extraordinary exertions of an insidious and numerous lobby," 
"paid agents whose object was private profit" took fright and 
Congress was relieved of their objectionable presence. Still, dis- 
cussion in the Senate was long-drawn-out, and the Underwood Bill 
did not finally pass and receive the President's signature until 
early in October. 

The Underwood Bill, taken as a whole, reduced the general level 
of tariff rates greatly below what they had been under the Payne- 
Aldrich Bill. On nearly 1000 articles the rates were lowered, on 
more than 300 they were left unchanged, and on eighty-six they 
were increased. The rates on cotton goods were cut from 45 per 
cent to 30 per cent. The rates on woolen goods (Schedule K) 
were reduced far below the high mark of the Payne Tariff, but 
as a compensation to manufacturers wool was put on the free list. 
Sugar rates were reduced and that commodity was to be placed on 
the free list after May, 1916, but the protest of the sugar-growing 
interests was so strong that the clause providing for the free entry 
of sugar was repealed before the date arrived for it to go into 
effect. Inasmuch as the new tariff would probably not produce 
enough revenue, the power of the Sixteenth Amendment * was 
invoked and a clause providing for an income tax was added to 
the bill. A tax of 1 per cent was levied on the profits of cor- 
porations and on individual incomes in excess of $3000 in the case 
of single persons, or $4000 in the case of married persons. On 
larger incomes there was levied a graduated surtax running from 
1 per cent on incomes between $20,000 and $50,000, to 6 per cent 
on those in excess of $500,000. The income tax feature of the 
Underwood Bill marked the beginning of a revolution in American 
national finance. 

The second great question upon which the President wanted 
definite and constructive action related to the currency. The 
necessity for currency reform had been keenly felt in 1907, when 
at a moment of financial stress there was precipitated in New York 

1 See p. 747. 



PROGRESSIVE LEGISLATION 759 

a panic which spread to other parts of the nation and resulted in c ;Kap. 
many business failures and much unemployment. The panic began — ■ — 
when the depositors of two great banks in New York became 
frightened and withdrew their deposits. There would have been 
no trouble, however, if there had been in existence some method 
by which the banks could have quickly mobilized their credit and 
secured the currency necessary for meeting the demands of the 
depositors. There was money enough in existence, but the dis- 
tressed banks could not get hold of it. In order to provide tem- 
porary means for making the supply of currency more flexible, 
Congress in 1908 passed the Aldrich-Vreeland Act which author- 
ized national banks to issue emergency notes in times of financial 
stress. This act, however, was intended to be only a makeshift 
measure and by its own terms it was to expire in 1914. One of 
the provisions of the act established a national monetary com- 
mission which was to investigate the currency and banking systems 
for this and other countries. During the Taft administration the 
commission brought in a report containing a vast amount of 
information and many illuminating and valuable suggestions bear- 
ing upon the subject of currency reform. But legislation on the 
currency question was delayed until the Democrats came into 
power. 

President Wilson, believing that further delay would be danarer- The Federal 

Roscrvo Act 

ous, appeared before Congress in June, 1913, and urged the 
enactment of a new banking and currency law, pointing out that 
the currency should be more elastic, that there should be some 
means of mobilizing bank reserves, and that the banking system 
should be brought under public control. Congress responded with 
the Owen-Glass Federal Reserve Act, the most far-reaching cur- 
rency law that was ever placed on the books. The purpose of this 
act was, first, to bring about a more even diffusion throughout 
the country of the money that was already in circulation; and, 
secondly, to make from time to time such changes in the existing 
volume of currency as the conditions of trade might require. 
Under the act the United States has been marked off geographically 
into twelve districts, and in one of the cities in each district there 
has been established a Federal reserve bank. The cities having 
Federal reserve banks are Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleve- 
land, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas 
City, Dallas, and San Francisco. The members and owners of a 



760 



A PROGRESSIVE ERA 



Federal reserve bank are the national banks within the district 
and such State banks and trust companies as may choose to join 
under the conditions laid down by the law. A Federal reserve 
bank is a bank of banks : its depositors are the member banks, and 
its deposits consist of a certain specified portion of the reserve 
fund which the member banks within the district are required by 
law to keep in their possession for the safety of their customers. 
The borrowers from a reserve bank are the member banks within 
the district. Before 1914 a very large portion of the reserves of 
banks flowed into two or three financial centers, and there was a 
harmful congestion of money in those centers; but under the act 
of 1913 the greater part of the reserves of the banks of a given 
district are kept within the boundaries of that district and con- 
gestion is prevented. Yet under certain conditions reserves may 
flow from one district to another, for in an emergency funds may be 
transferred from one reserve bank to another, if in the judgment 
of the Federal reserve board the transfer is desirable. 

The currency issued by the Federal reserve banks consists of 
Federal reserve notes secured, not by bonds, as in the case of 
national bank notes, but by a gold reserve equal to 40 per cent of 
the face value of the notes plus an amount of commercial paper 
(promissory notes) equal to 100 per cent of the face value. In 
addition to this security, the United States treasury is pledged to 
redeem in gold or in other lawful money all Federal reserve notes. 
The operation of the Federal reserve system was placed by the act 
under the absolute control of a Federal reserve board consisting 
of five (increased in 1922 to six) members appointed by the 
President and two ex officio members, the secretary of the treasury 
and the controller of the currency. The new system was installed 
in November, 1914, and was soon more than meeting the expecta- 
tions of its friends. 

With the tariff and currency questions out of the way, the 
President turned his attention to the trusts. In accordance with 
his wishes Congress came forward with two laws designed to 
lubricate the wheels of competition. The first law, passed in 
September, 1914, declared unfair methods of competition to be 
unlawful, established a Federal trade commission consisting of 
five members appointed by the President, and gave it power to 
prevent persons, partnerships, and corporations (except banks and 
common carriers, which were governed by other agencies) from 




© Underwood & Underwood 




&&£**. " 



PROGRESSIVE LEGISLATION 761 

using unfair methods in trade. The principal function of the ^xxrv 

commission is to hear the complaints of business men who are ■ ■ 

suffering by reason of the dishonest practice of their rivals. And 
what is done with the complaints? If, after investigation, the 
commission has reason to believe that a complaint is just, it orders 
the offending party to desist from the unfair practice with which 
he is charged. If the offender obeys the order of the commission 
that of course is the end of the matter. But if he does not obey, 
then he is liable to be brought before a Federal court and if found 
guilty to be punished if he does not desist from the unfair practice. 
Manifestly all these qualifications operate to reduce the commis- 
sion's power to a very slender thread. 

The second of the laws secured by the President concerning 4 La ^ . 

* Aimed at 

trusts was the Clayton-Anti-Trust Act of October, 1914. This Monopoly 
was intended to supplement the Sherman Act and was aimed in 
express terms at monopoly. The Clayton Law makes it unlawful 
for any concern to discriminate in price between different pur- 
chasers where the effect of such discrimination is substantially to 
lessen competition or create a monopoly in any line of trade ; it 
forbids any corporation from acquiring the whole or any part of 
the stock of another corporation where the effect of such acquisition 
may substantially lessen competition between the corporation 
whose stock is acquired and the corporation making the acquisition ; 
it forbids the interlocking of directorates; that is, it forbids 
directors in certain classes of corporations to serve as directors in 
corporations engaged in business of the same sort. The law, 
however, declares that the labor of a human being is not a com- 
modity or article of commerce, and labor-unions and farmers' 
organizations, when they have no capital stock and are not con- 
ducted for profit, are exempted from the operations of the law. 

While the President was seeking this new anti-monopoly legisla- Trust 6 Re- 
tion his law officers were prosecuting the trusts under the Sherman q^bui 
Law. The most important anti-trust case conducted by the Wilson of Health 
administration was the suit against the United States Steel Cor- 
poration. Organized in 1901, x this giant for ten years waxed fatter 
and fatter, undisturbed by the "trust-busting" activities of the 
Government. In 1907 it acquired the Tennessee Coal & Iron Co. : 
the subject of its acquisition had first been submitted to President 
Roosevelt, who gave his approval to the merger on the ground that 

*See p. 701. 



762 



A PROGRESSIVE ERA 



CHAP. 
XXXIV 



Perplexed 
Statesmen 



it would tend to stop the panic of that year. In 1911 the Govern- 
ment began suit for the dissolution of the Steel Corporation, and 
nine years later the case was brought to an end when the Supreme 
Court decided that the company was not violating the Anti-trust 
Act and need not be dissolved. The decision was rendered by a 
minority of the court, two of the nine justices taking no part in the 
consideration of the ease and three dissenting. The effect of 
giving this, the greatest of all industrial combinations, a clean bill 
of health was to bring the Sherman Act into a disrepute even 
deeper than that into which it had already fallen and to cause 
men to feel that the monopolistic organization of industry was an 
incubus that could not be thrown off. How the decision operated 
to produce despair in the minds of statesmen was shown in a 
debate which took place in the Senate in 1922. 1 In this discussion 
it was made plain that no senator any longer had any hope that 
relief from monopoly under the Sherman Act was possible. One 
senator suggested putting teeth into the act, but when asked how 
this was to be done he had to confess that he did not know. 
Throughout the whole debate there was evidence that the law- 
makers were sorely perplexed by the difficulties which surrounded 
the problem of trust regulation. Nothing could have been more 
disheartening than these words of Senator Cummins: "The 
United States Steel Corporation produces, we will say, one half of 
all the iron and steel products of this country. . . . Two or three 
years ago I was a member of a committee to inquire into the cost 
of production of iron and steel products. It appeared during the 
course of that investigation, and there can be no doubt about it, 
that the United States Steel Corporation can produce the greater 
part of its output anywhere from five to fifteen dollars per ton 
more cheaply than can any of its competitors. The only way in 
which competition can be preserved at all is for the Steel Cor- 
poration to sell its products at more than a reasonable profit. If 
it were to sell at a reasonable profit there would be no competitors 
in the country, and it would have by the natural operation of 
commercial forces a monopoly." "These," said the same senator, 
a little later, "are conditions we have to deal with in some way or 
other. No man has yet been genius enough to present a plan which 
will deal with these situations short of the Government under- 
taking to fix prices or limit profits, and we are shrinking from that 
"Congressional Record"; February 7, 1922, pp. 2526-2528. 



PROGRESSIVE LEGISLATION 763 

course now, and I think we may very well shrink from it. It is ^^n 

one of the problems we have yet to solve, and the man who does 

solve it successfully, or the Congress which is able to introduce and 
carry into effect a plan which will restore and preserve reasonable, 
fair competition, in the production of the United States, will be 
entitled to a great deal more than the plaudits of his fellow men. 
He will be entitled to a very secure and permanent seat in the 
heavenly land." 

The situation which confronted the senators would doubtless 
have been less discouraging if the Government in its administra- 
tion of the anti-trust laws of 1914 had been assisted by the driving 
force of the progressive movement, the force after all that had 
really caused those laws to be spread upon the books. Had execu- 
tive officers and lawmakers and judges been animated by the 
reforming spirit after 1914 the Federal trade commission by 1922 
might have developed into an agency resembling the interstate 
commerce commission, and trust regulation might at least have 
been somewhere in sight. But after 1914 there was no longer in 
existence a powerful progressive influence to urge government 
onward. For with the firing of the guns in Europe the pro- 
gressive movement, which has been the theme of this chapter, 
came abruptly to an end. Within a few short months after the 
war broke out Reform was unhorsed and Reaction sprang into the 
saddle. 



XXXV 

THE GREAT WAE 

A Policy of Peace and Neutrality 

WHEN President Wilson began his duties it seemed that the 
most serious problems ahead would relate chiefly to ques- 
tions of internal policy. Yet the international skies were not 
cloudless. At the very outset of his administration he was con- 
fronted with troublesome problems of foreign policy. These he 
approached in a pacific mood, for no President since Madison had 
been a greater lover of peace. In any effort he might make to 
arrive at a peaceful solution of a problem he could rely on the 
faithful support of his secretary of state, who regarded war as a 
demon that statesmen ought to bind and destroy, 
rhe Peace It was Bryan's belief that war arises from precipitate action, 

and that inasmuch as modern conditions of communication have 
made the world a whispering-gallery in which men can arrive at 
quick understandings and agreements, the dangers of precipitancy 
might be avoided by providing for a period of investigation and 
inquiry into the nature of disputes before the outbreak of hostili- 
ties. With the purpose of guaranteeing a period of delay, a time 
for "cooling off," he set about negotiating treaties in which the 
high contracting parties should agree that all disputes between 
them of every nature whatsoever which diplomacy failed to adjust 
should be submitted for investigation to an international commis- 
sion, and should further agree not to declare or begin hostilities 
during such investigation, which might occupy an entire year, 
but no longer time unless the two governments should extend the 
period. Since President Wilson was in entire sympathy with the 
plan, the negotiation of the peace treaties proceeded rapidly and 
by the close of 1913 thirty-one nations, including nearly all the 
principal powers of the earth, had signified their willingness to 
bind themselves to the principle of delay and investigation before 
actual conflict. 

764 



A POLICY OF PEACE AND NEUTRALITY 765 

One of the earliest diplomatic questions to come up under the %|^ v - 

Wilson administration related to the Japanese in California. The 

legislature of that State in the spring of 1913 had before it a bill California 

D and the 

forbidding certain aliens from holding lands. Since the act would Japanese 
apply almost solely to Japanese immigrants, the ambassador from 
Japan protested to our State Department against the discrimina- 
tion, asserting that under existing treaties the Japanese were 
assured equal rights with other aliens. In order to relieve the 
situation, which was rather embarrassing to our Government, the 
President sent Bryan to California to meet the governor and 
legislature in person and endeavor to secure the postponement of 
all land-tenure legislation, and to suggest the possibility of a new 
treaty with Japan. The postponement was not secured, although 
the law, which eventually passed, was modified to the extent of 
allowing the Japanese to lease agricultural lands for terms not 
greater than three years. 

During this administration the United States made new ad- ^^Haltf 
vances of power in Latin America and in the Caribbean. In 1914 
there was negotiated with Nicaragua a treaty by which the United 
States acquired the exclusive right to construct an interoceanic 
canal by way of the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, to 
maintain a naval base on the Gulf of Fonseca, and to use the Corn 
Islands on the Caribbean side as coaling stations. For these 
privileges Nicaragua was to be paid $3,000,000, to be expended on 
public works and education. The treaty gave to the United States 
substantial control over the fiscal administration of Nicaragua, 
and therefore had the effect of establishing a virtual protectorate. 
On February 18, 1916, the same day on which the Nicaragua treaty 
was ratified, an actual protectorate was established over Haiti. 
The finances of the republic were in such a disordered condition 
that President Wilson determined the United States would have to 
provide a receivership for the Haitian customs similar to the one 
established for the Dominican Republic. 1 A treaty was accord- 
ingly made which reduced Haiti to a condition of almost complete 
dependence upon the United States: the customs of the little 
republic were brought under American control; its expenditures 
were placed under American supervision ; and its constabulary 
was to be commanded by American officers. The power of the 
United States in the Caribbean was still further extended by the 

1 See p. 713. 



766 THE GREAT WAR 

xxxv' purchase in 1916 of the Virgin Islands from Denmark. These 

islands, for which we paid $25,000,000, were secured in order that 

they might serve as a base for naval operations in the Caribbean. 
Mexican President Wilson had no sooner been inaugurated than he was 

situation called upon to deal with a serious situation which existed in 
Mexico. Just before President Taft's term expired Francisco 
Madero, the president of Mexico, was assassinated, whereupon 
General Victoriano Huerta seized control of the Mexican Govern- 
ment. Huerta sought recognition by the Government of the United 
States, but Taft, preferring to leave the matter to his successor, 
declined either to give or formally withhold recognition. When 
the question was brought before President Wilson he flatly refused 
to have anything to do with Huerta, who was believed to have 
risen to power by force and murder. "We can have no sympathy," 
said Wilson, "with those who seek to seize the power of govern- 
ment to advance their own personal interests or ambitions. . . . 
We dare not turn from the principle that morality and not expe- 
diency is the thing that is to guide us." Had Huerta been 
recognized our Government would still have had a Mexican prob- 
lem on its hands, for the republic was being torn by civil war. 
Venustiano Carranza and Francisco Villa, two headstrong leaders, 
were in revolt against the authority of Huerta. The revolution 
was accompanied by much bloodshed, and in the turmoil many 
Americans living in Mexico were killed and a great deal of 
property belonging to Americans was confiscated or destroyed. 
Wilson was urged' to intervene with a blood-and-iron policy, the 
cry for intervention coming often from men who had land or 
mineral or oil investments in Mexico. But the only force he was 
willing to use was moral force. "The steady pressure of moral 
force," he said, "will before many days break the barriers of 
pride and prejudice down and we shall triumph as Mexico's friends 
sooner than we could triumph as her enemy — and how much more 
handsomely and with how much higher and finer satisfactions of 
conscience and honor ! ' ' Instead of resorting to forcible inter- 
vention the President pursued a policy which he characterized as 
one of "watchful waiting": he would keep a watchful eye upon 
American interests in Mexico, but wait patiently for the revo- 
lution to run its course without interference on the part of the 
United States. The underlying purpose of the President was to 
give the Mexicans an opportunity to work out their own political 



A POLICY OF PEACE AND NEUTRALITY 767 

salvation and set up for themselves a stable constitutional govern- chap. 

ment. 

The President adhered with great tenacity to his policy of The 

"watchful waiting," but the results were extremely disquieting Results of 

**Wiitchf ill 

and unsatisfactory. Many times during the revolution American waiting- 
interests — and there was more than a billion dollars' worth of 
American property at stake — suffered because there was no strong 
hand to protect them. Foreigners were almost daily shot down 
by brigands or revolutionists. In the spring of 1914 several 
sailors belonging to our navy were arrested by the followers of 
Huerta at Tampico and were roughly treated. Demands for 
reparation followed, and since these were not fully complied with, 
President Wilson sent our fleet against Vera Cruz. The city was 
quickly captured and was held until November, 1914, when our 
troops sailed away. As the revolution proceeded Carranza and 
Villa steadily gained ground. In the summer of 1915 Huerta was 
overthrown and Carranza entered the City of Mexico in triumph 
and seized the reins of power. Within a few months he was 
recognized by the United States and several other countries as 
the head of the provisional government of Mexico. But Carranza 
was not allowed to govern in peace. The victors began to quarrel 
among themselves: Villa turned against Carranza and Mexican 
affairs went from bad to worse. In March, 1916, Villa led a band 
of outlaws across the Mexican border into New Mexico and killed 
nine American citizens. American troops were now quickly sent 
into Mexico to capture and punish Villa and his band. The troops 
went, said President Wilson, "in aid of the constituted authorities 
of Mexico" and "with scrupulous respect for the sovereignty of 
the republic." This punitive expedition accomplished little, for 
Villa eluded his pursuers and remained at large. Although 
Carranza was unable wholly to suppress lawlessness his govern- 
ment nevertheless gradually acquired a measure of strength. In 
March, 1917, he was first elected president and shortly after was 
formally recognized by the United States as the rightful president 
of the Mexican republic. 

The disturbances in Mexico were as dust in the balance when a continent 

in Arms 

weighed against the convulsions of the Great War which in the 
summer of 1914 began to impart their violence to the United States. 
At the opening of that war every important nation of Europe was 
armed to the teeth. Conscription was the order of the day, and 



768 



THE GREAT WAR 



CHAP. 
XXXV 



The Out- 
break of 
the War 



Neutrality 



rulers had availed themselves of the principle of compulsory 
service to build up the largest armies the world had ever seen. 
The peace strength of Germany was 870,000 men; of France, 
780,000; of Russia, 1,500,000; of Austria-Hungary, 435,000; of 
Italy, 306,000. These were all fully trained men ready for battle. 
In addition these five nations had a total reserve strength of nearly 
20,000,000 trained men. What would happen if these armies 
should fall to fighting? Many thoughtful observers, reflecting 
upon the magnitude of the armaments and upon the awful possi- 
bilities of a conflict, refused to believe that the armies would ever 
be called into action. War, they said, is unthinkable. 

But the war came, and the conflagration was not a case of 
spontaneous combustion; the match was applied by human hands. 
On August 2, 1914, William II, the German emperor, intending 
to deal a crushing blow to France, and finding that the most 
convenient path lay through Belgium, began to pour armies across 
the boundaries of that little kingdom. The act of the emperor 
was violative of a treaty by which his Government was bound, but 
in the eyes of the German ruler, if a treaty interfered with scien- 
tific warfare, it was a mere "scrap of paper." The invasion of 
Belgium started the fire. Soon Germany, Austria, and Turkey 
were fighting Belgium, Great Britain, France, Russia, and Serbia. 
The war spread from nation to nation until at last its spell of hell 
was cast over all the world. 

Two days after the outbreak of the war President Wilson issued 
a formal proclamation of neutrality and on August 18 in an 
address to the people of the country urged them to be neutral 
both in thought and action. But the greater part of the popula- 
tion could not have been neutral in mind if it had tried. There 
were millions of German Americans in whose bosoms there lurked 
a wish that the Fatherland might triumph. Millions of Irish 
Americans would have rejoiced to see Great Britain go down in 
defeat. Millions of newly arrived aliens — Slavs, Poles, Bohemians, 
Slovaks, Serbs, Magyars — could not have been indifferent to the 
fortunes of the countries from which they came. There were 
many native-born Americans who for one reason and another had 
such a liking for England that they were outspoken in her defense. 
Other native-born Americans for one reason and another cherished 
for Germany an affection that was inconsistent with a neutral 
policy. Then propaganda interfered with neutrality. Agents of 



A POLICY OF PEACE AND NEUTRALITY 769 

Germany went over the country doing everything they could to XXX y 

turn public opinion to the side of the Teutons, while the mails 

groaned with pamphlets and books which championed the cause 
of the allies. Still another thing that made neutrality difficult was 
the trade situation which arose on the ocean. The English navy 
rapidly drove all the surface ships of the enemy to cover and 
gained the mastery of the seas, which meant the virtual mastery 
of the movements of most of the foreign trade of the world. A 
blockade was set up which barred the way of American goods — of 
all goods for that matter — to the Central Powers, and, to the 
extent that Great Britain desired, even to some of the neutral 
powers. But American goods could go to the allies and did go 
in immense quantities — munitions, food-stuffs, copper, and other 
raw materials necessary for carrying on war. Germany protested 
bitterly and her friends in America protested bitterly because of 
the shipments to the allies, and charges of discrimination were 
made. Our Government, however, was able to show that nothing 
was being done which was contrary to international practice and 
that the only reason the Central Powers did not receive munitions 
and other supplies from America was because their enemies were 
able to head them off. 

The greatest enemy of neutrality was the German submarine. Quanta 
On February 6, 1915, the German Government proclaimed a sub- 
marine blockade of the British Isles and announced that within 
the war zone enemy merchant vessels would be destroyed "even if 
it may not be possible always to save their crew and passengers." 
Here was an intimation that Germany might disregard inter- 
national law and sink merchant ships without first giving warning 
and providing for the safety of persons on board. The declaration 
brought from President Wilson on February 10 an energetic pro- 
test and a warning that Germany must take care not to destroy 
American lives or sink American ships. The protest, however, 
did not cause Germany to desist from her submarine campaign. 
Beginning on February 18 the submarine began its deadly work, 
and ship after ship went down. On May 7 a German submarine 
attacked the Lusitania, a British merchantman, and without any 
warning sent the great liner to the bottom of the sea. Nearly 1200 
innocent persons were drowned. Of those who lost their lives 
more than one hundred were American citizens. 



770 



THE GREAT WAR 



CHAP. 
XXXV 



A 

Diplomatic 
Settlement 



Since the Lusitania was carrying munitions to England Ger- 
many sought to excuse the sinking on the ground that it was a 
necessary act of war. Military necessity or no military necessity, 
the destruction of the vessel was an act of fiendishness that caused 
every mercy-loving heart in the world to thrill with horror. The 
cruel deed created a profound sensation in the United States, and 
everywhere there was talk of war. In some places in the East it 
seemed that public sentiment would support a declaration of 
hostilities. President Wilson kept to the neutral course. He did 
not want war but he wanted Germany's disavowal and, as far as 
possible, reparation. In a note to the German Government on the 
subject he said that the American Government would not be 
expected "to omit any word or any act necessary to the perform- 
ance of its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the United 
States and its citizens and of safeguarding their free exercise and 
enjoyment." Germany was slow in replying, and when the reply 
came it was unsatisfactory. In a second note, written by the 
President, the American demands were set forth anew and with 
a decisiveness that sounded to the secretary of state like an 
ultimatum. Bryan, believing that an ultimatum would be the 
straight road to war, and having publicly declared that so long 
as he was secretary of state the country would not engage in war, 
with consistency withheld his signature from the note and re- 
signed, his place being taken by Robert Lansing. As Germany's 
reply to the second note was evasive and unsatisfactory, a third 
note was despatched on July 21. Although no response was made 
to this note, the German Government issued instructions to sub- 
marine commanders not to sink liners without warning. It now 
seemed that the controversy over the Lusitama would be settled in 
an amicable manner. But fresh trouble arose. In the spring of 
1916 an unarmed packet, the Sussex, was sunk without warning in 
the English Channel and several American lives were lost. This 
incident revived the main issue in a way that spurred the President 
to drastic action. On April 18 he transmitted to Germany a 
ringing ultimatum which he explained to Congress on the follow- 
ing day. In his note he announced that, unless the Imperial 
German Government should "now immediately declare and effect 
an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare 
against passenger and freight carrying vessels, the Government 



A POLICY OF PEACE AND NEUTRALITY 771 

of the United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic fy£v' 

relations with the German Empire altogether." Upon receiving 

this ultimatum Germany yielded and promised to conduct her 
submarine warfare in accordance with the established rules of 
international law, but at the same time made the statement that 
if in the future the other belligerent nations should fail in their 
observance of the rules of international law she would then be 
facing a new situation in which she must reserve for herself 
complete liberty of decision. President Wilson accepted the 
declaration of the German Government but made it clear that his 
demand for the observance of American rights upon the sea would 
not in the slightest degree be contingent upon the action of any 
other government. "Responsibility," he said, "in such matters 
is single, not joint ; absolute, not relative. ' ' 

As Congress had not been in session when the Lusitania was McLemoi 
sunk the President could deal with this and other diplomatic Resolutic 
questions without let or hindrance until the lawmakers should 
assemble in December. When the Congress met it showed no 
inclination to interfere with the executive in his management of 
foreign affairs. A few of the members seemed to want war, but 
they did not press the issue. So far as there was any formal 
expression of sentiment it came from members who were desirous 
that neutrality be maintained. To the end that a conflict might 
be avoided, Representative McLemore in February, 1916, intro- 
duced a resolution requesting the President to warn American 
citizens to refrain from traveling on armed belligerent vessels of 
any kind, and to declare that if they persisted in traveling on 
.such ships they would do so at their own peril. The resolution 
seemed to have a fair chance of passing, but before the vote was 
taken the President announced himself opposed to it. He felt 
that it was an abridgment of the rights of American citizens. 
"To forbid our people," he said, "to exercise their rights for fear 
we might be called upon to vindicate them would be a deep 
humiliation indeed. . . . Once accept a single abatement of right 
and many other humiliations would follow, and the whole fine 
fabric of international law might crumble under our hands piece 
by piece." The opposition of the President turned the tide, which 
was flowing strongly toward the adoption of the resolution. When 
it was voted upon it was tabled by a decisive majority. 



772 



THE GREAT WAR 



CHAP. 

x.vxv 



Prepared- 
ness 



The Federal 
Aid Road 



Although Congress was not inclined toward war it was ready 
to strengthen the military establishment. All through the year 
1915 the country was stirred by a campaign for preparedness. 
On thousands of platforms orators dwelt upon the dangers of our 
defenseless condition. In Chicago Rear-Admiral Peary told the 
people that within twelve months German flying-machines would 
be dropping bombs upon the business district of that city. On 
thousands of screens there were harrowing pictures of enemy 
soldiers landing upon our shores, swooping down upon cities, and 
bringing the nation to its knees. In the large cities the public 
mind was impressed by monster preparedness parades. The result 
of the campaign was to build up a sentiment for a more efficient 
national defense. Responding to the demand for preparedness 
President Wilson urged upon Congress the necessity of raising an 
army and navy much larger than the country had ever had in 
times of peace. Congress concurred fully in the views of the 
President and went far beyond his recommendations. In June, 
1916, it passed a National Defense Act which provided for raising 
the regular army to a peace strength of 208,000 men and 11,000 
officers, and the National Guard to 440,000 men and 17,000 officers, 
thus making the total peace strength about 650,000 men and 
28,000 officers, an army vastly larger than America ever dreamed 
of having in times of peace. Moreover, appropriations were made 
for increasing the navy to a size which at the time seemed dazzling 
in its bigness. 

While foreign affairs were in such a turbulent condition the 
minds of the people were naturally deflected from matters of 
domestic concern. Nevertheless home affairs were not wholly 
neglected. In fact while the conflict was raging important Federal 
statutes were enacted. The Federal Aid Road Act in 1916 gave 
the helping hand of the National Government to the good roads 
movement, which was carried forward rapidly after the appear- 
ance of the automobile. The law provided that $75,000,000 should 
be expended over a five-year period in the construction of highways 
in the several States, the money to be divided among the States 
on the threefold basis of area, population, and mileage of rural 
delivery routes. The Rural Credits Law of 1916 set up machinery 
for the ascertaining of land values and the needs of farmers, and 
for the making of loans to those who wished to borrow money for 
certain purposes connected with the occupation of farmers. At 



A POLICY OF PEACE AND NEUTRALITY 773 

the farm loan banks, the banks which the law established, farmers chap. 

could borrow at a low rate of interest, and could repay their ■ 

borrowings, both principal and interest, in fixed small sums. An 
act of 1916 created a shipping board which was charged with the 
duty of encouraging and developing a merchant marine. During 
the Civil War so many of our trading vessels had been swept from 
the seas * that by the time the struggle was over our merchant fleet 
was virtually gone. For nearly fifty years we depended upon The 

. Shipping 

foreign ships to carry abroad the products of our factories and Board 
fields. Under the act of 1916 it was made the duty of the board to 
build, buy, or lease ships suitable for the ocean trade, to enforce 
reasonable maximum rates among water carriers engaged in inter- 
state commerce, and to correct unjust discriminations in rates 
among such carriers engaged in foreign trade. The shipping board 
thus was given a place in the Federal system on a footing with 
the interstate commerce commission. The Federal Eight-hour Act 
(the Adamson Law) provided for a standard eight-hour working ™® 
day for such employees on interstate railroads as are actually Law 
engaged in any capacity in the operation of trains. This law was 
hurried through Congress in the summer of 1916. The railway 
engineers, firemen, conductors, and trainmen, numbering more 
than 400,000, demanded the eight-hour day, threatening to tie up 
the whole transportation system if it were not granted. Late in 
August President Wilson undertook to bring about a compromise 
between the workers and the railroad owners, but failed. On 
A.ugust 28 orders were given for a strike to begin on September 4. 
On August 29 the President appeared before Congress and recom- 
mended immediate legislation to avert the impending strike. A 
bill was introduced at once, and within one hundred hours the 
eight-hour act had passed and was ready for the President's 
signature. The pressure exerted by the railroad brotherhoods 
resembled duress so strongly that a cartoonist was led to hit off 
the situation by representing a labor leader holding a stop-watch 
over Congress and demanding the immediate passage of the bill. 
Loud and angry protests followed the passage of the Adamson 
Law, yet as a piece of legislation it harmonized very well with an 
eight-hour movement which at the time was sweeping over the 
country and affecting almost every industry. 
J See p. 478. 



774 



THE GREAT WAR 



The Eight-hour Law was enacted while the Presidential cam- 
paign of 1916 was in progress. The Democratic convention that 
year assembled in St. Louis and renominated Wilson by acclama- 
tion. By agreement between the two national committees the 
Republicans and Progressives met in Chicago on the same date 
(June 17) for the nomination of candidates. The Progressives 
nominated Roosevelt again, hoping that the Republicans would 
endorse his candidacy. But the men who dominated the Republi- 
can convention refused to accept the Progressive leader as their 
candidate. Charles E. Hughes, former governor of New York 
and at the time the convention met an associate justice of the 
Supreme Court, was chosen on the third ballot. The all-important 
question now was : Would Roosevelt accept the Progressive nomi- 
nation or would be decline and throw his support to the Republi- 
can ticket? Promptly enough he declined to run and announced 
that the Republican ticket was worthy of the support of all 
progressive-minded, patriotic men. He was criticized for leaving 
his party in this manner, yet a different course would have been 
political suicide. In a real sense he did not abandon his party, 
for in a real sense it no longer existed. There was a shell of an 
organization, but the heart of the party was gone. After the 
Great War had quenched the spirit of the progressive movement, 1 
the Progressive party, which drew its life from that movement, 
began rapidly to crumble, its decay being hastened by the liberal 
policies of the Democratic administration. "We have in four 
years," said Wilson in 1916, "come very near to carrying out the 
platform of the Progressive party as well as our own." In the 
congressional elections of 1914 the total Progressive vote was less 
than half what it was two years before, and by 1916 the collapse of 
the party was complete. 

In the campaign the central theme was the Wilson administra- 
tion, the Republicans attacking it and the Democrats defending it. 
The subject around which most of the discussion revolved was 
Wilson's management of foreign affairs. At all stages of the 
campaign the course of the administration in respect to Mexico 
was bitterly assailed by the Republicans. The President's attitude 
toward questions growing out of the Great War was also severely 
denounced, but the denunciation was usually couched in vague or 
evasive phraseology. When the Republicans were pressed to say 

1 See p. 763. 



A POLICY OF PEACE AND NEUTRALITY 775 

in concrete language what they would have done that the Demo- £?.££• 

crats had left undone no clear answer was given. Hughes gave 

no indication that if elected he would depart from the policy of 
neutrality. Nor did Wilson indicate that if reelected he would 
continue to adhere to that policy. But, as the neutral way had 
proved to be the way of peace, the Democrats could use, and did 
use with great effectiveness, the slogan, "He kept us out of war." 

At the election more than 18,500,000 votes were cast, about one Ei^tfo e n 
fourth of the voters being women. The contest was so close that 
for several days the result of the balloting was in doubt. In 
Minnesota and California the margin was extremely narrow. 
Minnesota went for Hughes by an official plurality of only 396, 
but California by a vote almost as close went into the Democratic 
column and decided the contest. Wilson received 274 electoral 
votes and Hughes 257. The popular vote was : Wilson, 9,128,837 ; 
Hughes, 8,536,380. The popular vote of the Socialist candidate, 
Allan L. Benson, of New York, was 590,415. 

While the results of the election showed plainly enough that 
the country was satisfied with the policy of neutrality, there were 
nevertheless grave apprehensions that if the war continued the 
policy could not much longer be maintained. But the President 
was not going to allow America to be drawn into the maelstrom if 
the catastrophe could be averted in a manner consistent with the 
national honor. In December, 1916, at a time when there was a 
faint hope that the rulers of the contending nations might be 
willing at least to consider the subject of peace, he made an appeal 
to the Governments of all the belligerents to state their views as 
to the terms upon which the war might be brought to an end. He 
did not propose peace or even offer to serve as peacemaker; his 
sole purpose was to secure from the countries at war a definite 
statement of the objects for which they were fighting. On Jan- 
uary 22, 1917, he appeared before the Senate and stated the results 
of his appeal. He had little to report that was encouraging, for 
the responses of the several belligerents seemed to indicate a 
willingness to shut the door on peace and turn the bolt. After 
telling the Senate of his efforts to secure a statement of the war 
aims of the contestants, he went on to say that the United States 
was deeply concerned in those aims and ventured to enumerate 
some of the things upon which America would be most in- 
sistent : 



776 



THE GREAT WAR 



No nation should seek to extend its policy over any other nation 
or people, but . . . every people should be left free to determine 
its own policy, its own way of development, unhindered, unthreat- 
ened, unafraid, the little along with the powerful. ... I am pro- 
posing government by the consent of the governed, that freedom 
of the seas which our ancestors have urged; and that moderation 
of armament which makes of armies and navies a power for order 
merely, not an instrument of aggression or of selfish violence. 

To attain these ends there must be a peace without victory. 
"Victory," he said, "would mean peace forced upon the loser, a 
victor's terms imposed upon the vanquished. It would be accepted 
in humiliation under duress at an intolerable sacrifice, and would 
leave a sting, a resentment, a bitter memory upon which terms of 
peace would rest, not permanently, but only as upon quicksand." 
But the belligerents were in no temper for a peace without 
victory. The allies were for a "knock-out" blow, while Germany 
was thinking of peace only in the terms of a victor. On January 
31 the German Government announced that a wide area of waters 
surrounding the British Islands would be regarded as a barred 
zone, within which submarines would sink merchantmen, bellig- 
erent as well as neutral, except that one American ship would be 
allowed to pass through the zone each week provided that it 
followed a designated narrow lane, that it was marked with broad 
red and white stripes and carried no contraband. This announce- 
ment was a stunning blow to the President's cherished policy of 
neutrality. He promptly broke off diplomatic relations with Ger- 
many and sent the German ambassador out of the country. 
Germany in accordance with her threat renewed the submarine 
warfare, and merchantman after merchantman went down, with 
the result that commerce suffered greater disasters than at any 
time since the war was begun. When two American vessels had 
been sunk and American lives had been lost, Wilson went before 
Congress (February 26) and asked for authority to use armed 
vessels to protect American rights. "I request," he said, "that 
you will authorize me to supply the merchant ships with defensive 
arms, should that become necessary, and with the means of using 
them and to employ any other instrumentalities or methods that 
may be necessary and adequate to protect our ships and our people 
in their legitimate and peaceful pursuits upon the seas." Congress 
was ready to comply with the President's request. In the House a 



AMERICA ENTERS THE WAR 777 

bill was introduced authorizing him to supply American vessels chap. 

with guns, ammunition, and gunners, and to use such means as 

might be necessary to protect American ships and the Americans 

who might be traveling upon them. While the bill was before the 

House it was announced from a reliable source that the State a Prepos- 
terous 

Department was in the possession of a document which revealed Scheme 
the course Germany intended to take in case war should break out 
between that nation and the United States. The meditated plan 
was that Germany should join with Japan and Mexico in an 
attack upon the United States and, in the event of success, Mexico, 
as a reward for her assistance, was to receive Arizona, New 
Mexico, and Texas. Japan's share in the spoils was not stated 
in the document, but the inference was that she was to get the 
Philippines, Hawaii, and possibly California ! It was of course a 
preposterous scheme, but when the President announced that the 
document was authentic there was an outburst of resentment 
equal to that which was shown when the Lusitama was sunk. 
When Americans heard that Germany was revolving in her mind 
plans for the dismemberment of their country, it was of little use 
to talk any longer of peace and neutrality. Within a few hours 
after the plans of Germany were made known the House by a vote 
of 403 to thirteen passed the Armed Ship Bill for which the 
President asked. In the Senate, however, the bill did not fare so 
well. A small group of senators opposed it, believing that it meant 
war and that to pass it would be to surrender to the President the 
power of deciding the question of war or peace. The nearness of 
the end of the session made it possible for the opponents of the 
bill to prevent its passage. If it had come to a vote, however, it 
would beyond all doubt have passed, for seventy-six of the ninety- 
six senators signed a statement that they were favorable to giving 
the President power to arm merchant vessels. 

America Enters the War 
The President soon found that even if the Armed Ship Bill had A Historic 

r _ Address 

passed it would not have given him sufficient power to cope with 
the submarine menace. Germany was sinking American ships and 
taking American lives, and she could not be checked by the 
palliative of armed neutrality. Measures of passive defense must 
give way to measures of aggressive warfare. On April 2 the 



778 THE GREAT WAR 

xxxv President, abandoning all hope of peace, went before Congress 
and asked that the sword be drawn against the German Govern- 
ment on the ground that Germany had drawn her sword not only 
against the United States, but against the whole world. In his 
historic address the President said : 

Gentlemen of the Congress: I have called the Congress into 
extraordinary session because there are serious — very serious — 
choices of policy to be made, and made immediately, which it was 
neither right nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume 
the responsibility of making. 

On the third of February last I officially laid before you the 
extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government 
that on and after the first day of February it was its purpose to 
put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its sub- 
marines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the 
ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe, 
or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within 
the Mediterranean. 

That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine 
warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial 
German Government had somewhat restrained the commanders of 
its under-sea craft in conformity with its promise then given to us 
that passenger boats should not be sunk and that due warning 
would be given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek 
to destroy, when no resistance was offered or escape attempted, and 
care taken that their crews were given at least a fair chance to save 
their lives in their open boats. 

The precautions taken were meager and haphazard enough, as 
was proved in distressing instance after instance in the progress 
of the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint 
was observed. 

The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of 
every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their 
destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom 
without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those 
on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of 
belligerents. 

Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely 
bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were 
provided with safe-conduct through the proscribed areas by the 
German Government itself and were distinguished by unmistakable 



AMERICA ENTERS THE WAR 779 

marks of identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of ^xxv 
compassion or of principle. 

International law had its origin in the attempt to set up some 
law which would be respected and observed upon the seas, where 
no nation had right of dominion and where lay the free highways 
of the world. 

By painful stage after stage has that law been built up, with 
meager enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that 
could be accomplished, but always with a clear view, at least, of 
what the heart and conscience of mankind demanded. 

This minimum right the German Government has swept aside 
under the plea of retaliation and necessity, and because it had no 
weapons which it could use at sea except these, which it is impos- 
sible to employ, as it is employing them, without throwing to the 
winds all scruples of humanity or of respect for the understandings 
that were supposed to underlie the intercourse of the world. 

I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense 
and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale 
destruction of the lives of non-combatants — men, women, and 
children — engaged in pursuits which have always, even in the 
darkest periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and 
legitimate. Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and 
innocent people cannot be. 

The present German warfare against commerce is a warfare 
against mankind. It is a war against all nations. American ships 
have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred 
us very deeply to learn of; but the ships and people of other 
neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in 
the waters in the same way. 

There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all man- 
kind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The 
choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of 
counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character 
and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. 
Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the 
physical might of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of 
human right, of which we are only a single champion. 

When I addressed the Congress on the twenty-sixth of February 
last I thought that it would suffice to assert our neutral rights 
with arms, our right to use the seas against unlawful interference, 
our right to keep our people safe against unlawful violence. 

But armed neutrality, it now appears, is impracticable. Because 



780 THE GREAT WAR 

chap. submarines have been used against merchant shipping it is im- 

possible to defend ships against their attacks, as the law of nations 

has assumed that merchantmen would defend themselves against 
privateers or cruisers, visible craft, giving chase upon the open sea. 

It is common prudence in such circumstances, grim necessity 
indeed, to destroy them before they have shown their own intention. 
They must be dealt with upon sight, if dealt with at all. 

The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms 
at all within the areas of the sea which it has prohibited even in the 
defense of rights which no modern publicist has ever before ques- 
tioned their right to defend. 

The intimation is conveyed that the armed guards which we have 
placed on our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the pale of 
law and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be. Armed 
neutrality is ineffectual enough at best. In such circumstances 
and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than ineffectual. It 
is likely only to produce what it was meant to prevent. It is 
practically certain to draw us into the war without either the rights 
or the effectiveness of belligerents. 

There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making : 
We will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most 
sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. 
The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are not common 
wrongs ; they cut to the very roots of human life. 

With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character 
of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it 
involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my consti- 
tutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the recent course 
of the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less than 
war against the Government and people of the United States ; that 
it formally accept the status of belligerent which has thus been 
thrust upon it and that it take immediate steps not only to put the 
country in a more thorough state of defense, but also to exert all 
its power and employ all its resources to bring the Government of 
the German Empire to terms and end the war. 

What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost 
practicable cooperation in counsel and action with the Governments 
now at war with Germany, and, as incident to that, the extension 
to those Governments of the most liberal financial credits, in order 
that our resources may, so far as possible, be added to theirs. It 
will involve the organization and mobilization of all the material 
resources of the country to supply the materials of war and serve 



AMERICA ENTERS THE WAR 781 

the incidental needs of the nation in the most abundant, and yet *£&£; 
the most economical and efficient, way possible. — — 

It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in all 
respects, but particularly in supplying it with the best means of 
dealing with the enemy's submarines. It will involve the imme- 
diate addition to the armed forces of the United States, already 
provided for by law in case of war, of at least 500,000 men, who 
should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle of universal 
liability to service, and also the authorization of subsequent addi- 
tional increments of equal force so soon as they may be needed and 
can be handled in training. 

It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits 
to the Government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably 
be sustained by the present generation, by well conceived taxation. 
I say sustained so far as may be equitable by taxation because it 
seems to me that it would be most unwise to base the credits which 
will now be necessary entirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, 
I most respectfully urge, to protect our people so far as we may 
against the very serious hardships and evils which would be likely 
to arise out of the inflation which would be produced by vast loans. 

In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be 
accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of 
interfering as little as possible in our own preparation and in the 
equipment of our own military forces with the duty — for it will 
be a very practical duty — of supplying the nations already at war 
with Germany with the materials which they can obtain only from 
us or by our assistance. They are in the field and we should help 
them in every way to be effective there. 

I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several execu- 
tive departments of the Government for the consideration of your 
committees, measures for the accomplishment of the several objects 
I have mentioned. I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with 
them as having been framed after very careful thought by the 
branch of the Government upon which the responsibility of con- 
ducting the war and safeguarding the nation will most directly 
fall. 

While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let 
us be very clear, and make very clear to all the world what our 
motives and our objects are. My own thought has not been driven 
from its habitual and normal course by the unhappy events of the 
last two months, and I do not believe that the thought of the nation 
has been altered or clouded by them. 



782 THE GREAT WAR 

I have exactly the same thing in mind now that I had in mind 
when I addressed the Senate on the twenty-second of January last ; 
the same that I had in mind when I addressed the Congress on the 
third of February and on the twenty-sixth of February. Our 
object now, as then, is to vindicate the principles of peace and 
justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic 
power and to set up amongst the really free and self -governed 
peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and of action as will 
henceforth insure the observance of those principles. 

Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of 
the world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the 
menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic 
governments backed by organized force, which is controlled wholly 
by their will, not by the will of their people. We have seen the 
last of neutrality in such circumstances. 

We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted 
that the same standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong 
done shall be observed among nations and their governments that 
are observed among the individual citizens of civilized states. 

We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling 
toward them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon 
their impulse that their Government acted in entering this war. It 
was not with their previous knowledge or approval. 

It was a war determined upon as wars used to be determined 
upon in the old, unhappy days when peoples were nowhere con- 
sulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged in the 
interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambitious men who were 
accustomed to use their fellow-men as pawns and tools. 

Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor states with spies 
or set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical posture of 
affairs which will give them an opportunity to strike and make 
conquest. Such designs can be successfully worked only under 
cover and where no one has the right to ask questions. 

Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggression, carried, 
it may be, from generation to generation, can be worked out and 
kept from the light only within the privacy of courts or behind the 
carefully guarded confidences of a narrow and privileged class. 
They are happily impossible where public opinion commands and 
insists upon full information concerning all the nation's affairs. 

A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except 
by a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic government 
could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. 
It must be a league of honor, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue 



AMERICA ENTERS THE WAR 783 

would eat its vitals away, the plottings of inner circles would be a ^f^y* 

corruption seated at its very heart. Only free peoples who could 

plan what they would and render account to no one can hold their 
purpose and their honor steady to a common end and prefer the 
interests of mankind to any narrow interest of their own. 

Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to 
our hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and 
heartening things that have been happening within the last few 
weeks in Russia? 

Russia was known by those who knew it best to have been always 
in fact democratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her thought, 
in all the intimate relationships of her people that spoke their 
natural instinct, their habitual attitude toward life. 

Autocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, 
long as it has stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, 
was not in fact Russian in origin, in character or purpose, and now 
it has been shaken and the great, generous Russian people have 
been added in all their native majesty and might to the forces that 
are fighting for freedom in the world, for justice, and for peace. 

Here is a fit partner for a league of honor. 

One of the things that has served to convince us that the Prussian 
autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the 
very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting com- 
munities and even our offices of government with spies and set 
criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of 
council, our peace within and without, our industries and our 
commerce. 

Indeed it is now evident that its spies were here even before the 
war began, and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture but a 
fact proved in our courts of justice that the intrigues which have 
more than once come perilously near to disturbing the peace and 
dislocating the industries of the country have been carried on at 
the instigation, with the support, and even under the personal 
direction of official agents of the Imperial Government accredited 
to the Government of the United States. 

Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them we 
have sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon 
them because we know that their source lay, not in any hostile 
feeling or purpose of the German people toward us (who were, no 
doubt, as ignorant of them as we ourselves were) but only in the 
selfish designs of a Government that did what it pleased and told its 
people nothing. But they have played their part in serving to 
convince us at last that that Government entertains no real friend- 



784 THE GREAT WAR 

ship for ns and means to act against our peace and security at its 
convenience. That it means to stir up enemies against us at our 
very doors the intercepted note to the German minister at Mexico 
City is eloquent evidence. 

We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because "we 
know that in such a Government following such methods we can 
never have a friend ; and that in the presence of its organized 
power, always lying in wait to accomplish we know not what pur- 
pose, there can be no assured security for the democratic govern- 
ments of the world. 

We are now about to accept gage of battle with this natural foe 
to liberty, and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the 
nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are 
glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of false pretense about 
them, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the 
liberation of its people — the German people included — for the 
rights of nations great and small and the privilege of men every- 
where to choose their way of life and of obedience. 

The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be 
planted upon the trusted foundations of political liberty. 

We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no 
dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material 
compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but 
one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satis- 
fied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and 
the freedom of the nation can make them. 

Just because we fight without rancor and without selfish objects 
seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with 
all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations 
as belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud 
punctilio the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be 
fighting for. 

I have said nothing of the governments allied with the Imperial 
Government of Germany because they have not made war upon us 
or challenged us to defend our right and our honor. 

The Austro-Hungarian Government has, indeed, avowed its 
unqualified indorsement and acceptance of the reckless and lawless 
submarine warfare adopted now without disguise by the Imperial 
German Government, and it has therefore not been possible for 
this Government to receive Count Tarnowski, the ambassador 
recently accredited to this Government by the Imperial and Roj-al 
Government of Austria-Hungary; but that Government has not 
actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United States 



AMERICA ENTERS THE WAR 785 

on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of xxxv 

postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at 

Vienna. 

We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it 
because there are no other means of defending our rights. 

It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents 
in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without 
animus, not in enmity toward a people or with the desire to bring 
any injury or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition 
to an irresponsible Government which has thrown aside all con- 
sideration of humanity and of right and is running amuck. 

We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German 
people, and shall desire nothing so much as the early reestablish- 
ment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us — 
however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe that 
this is spoken from our hearts. 

We have borne with their present Government through all these 
bitter months because of that friendship — exercising a patience and 
forbearance which would otherwise have been impossible. We 
shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friendship 
in our daily attitude and actions toward the millions of men and 
women of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst us 
and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it toward all 
who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the Government in 
the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal 
Americans as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. 
They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining 
the few who may be of a different mind and purpose. 

If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm 
hand of stern repression ; but if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it 
only here and there and without countenance except from a lawless 
and malignant few. 

It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the Con- 
gress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, 
it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It 
is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into 
the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself 
seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than 
peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always 
carried nearest our hearts — for democracy, for the right of those 
who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, 
for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal 
dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring 






786 



THE GREAT WAR 



peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last 
free. 

To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, 
everything that we are and everything that we have, with the 
pride of those who know that the day has come when America is 
privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles 
that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has 
treasured. God helping her, she can do no other. 

The President's war message was justly regarded as an utter- 
ance worthy to rank with the messages of Washington and Lincoln. 
The response of Congress came swiftly and in a whole-hearted 
manner. Within three days both houses had agreed upon a joint 
resolution recognizing the existence of a state of war with Germany 
and authorizing the President to use the entire military and naval 
forces of the country to prosecute the war. The vote on the reso- 
lution in the Senate was eighty-two to eight; in the House the 
vote was 373 to fifty. The whole country responded to the Presi- 
dent's call, for it felt with him that the German Government had 
run amuck in the world and that its power must be broken. 



Carrying on the War 

The task before the country was one of stupendous proportions. 
The entire strength of the nation had to be thrown against an 
enemy that was fighting on battle-fields that lay across a sub- 
marine-infested sea three thousand miles in width. Four things 
had to be done at once : American fighting ships must be de- 
spatched with all possible swiftness to the scene where the German 
submarines were most active; vast quantities of food must be 
shipped from America to France, Italy, and Great Britain ; money 
in large sums must be furnished to the governments of the nations 
that were fighting against Germany; an armed force of American 
soldiers must be hurried to Flanders and France. 

The first of the tasks could be approached in a confident spirit, 
for the navy was in good trim and was ready to mobilize. Even 
before the declaration of war Rear-Admiral William S. Sims had 
been ordered to England to arrange for cooperation between our 
navy and the navies of the allies. As soon as hostilities began a 
flotilla of American submarine destroyers started for the British 
Isles and by May 4 had arrived at Queenstown ready for imme- 



CARRYING ON THE WAR 787 

diate action. This initial force was followed by others until at ^hap. 

last our naval strength abroad consisted of 5000 officers and 70,000 — 

enlisted men. In the work of combating the submarine the 
American navy performed the highly valuable service of laying 
four fifths of the mine barrage which extended from the Orkney 
Islands to Norway. 

The necessity of beating down the submarine was hardly less Qu| s t° ° n d 
pressing than was the demand that food be sent quickly to the 
allies, for if there should be delay in this the rations would soon 
be reduced to a crust. "We must supply abundant food," said 
the President on April 15, "not only for ourselves and for our 
armies and our seamen, but also for a large part of the nations 
with whom we have now made common cause." Since there was 
a shortage of cereals and provisions in the United States as well 
as in Europe, and since food supply and victory seemed to be 
linked together, it was found necessary to deal with the food 
question in a very firm manner. A Food Control Act was passed 
on August 10 conferring upon the President broad powers of 
fixing prices with the view of stimulating production and prevent- 
ing extortion. The act made it unlawful to destroy or hoard food, 
and provided for its general regulation and distribution. As the 
director of the Food Administration the President appointed 
Herbert C. Hoover, whose services as the head of relief work in 
Belgium had already won him fame. Through the efforts of the 
Food Administration the existing supplies of food were conserved 
and production was greatly increased. By a system of rationing, 
immense quantities of foods needed by the allies were saved, and 
by guaranteeing a minimum price of $2.20 a bushel for wheat the 
farmers were encouraged to produce more grain. 

The third task, that of furnishing money to the allies, was not Furnishing 
so very difficult, for we were the richest country in the world and the Allies 
the vaults of our banks were almost bursting with the gold which 
for three years we had been receiving from abroad in payment for 
munitions and provisions. The Government, therefore, could con- 
duct its war finances on a prodigious scale. The appropriations 
made during the first session of the Congress which declared the 
war amounted in all to more than $21,000,000,000. Of this 
$7,000,000,000 was lent to the allies. By the time the war ended 
more than $30,000,000,000 had been appropriated for meeting its 
expenses. First and last we lent the allies upward of $10,000,- 



THE GREAT WAR 



CHAP. 
XXXV 



000,000. In order to raise the huge sums required for carrying 
on the war, heavy taxation and borrowing on a vast scale were 
necessary and it was fortunate that Congress could make use of 
its new power to tax incomes and that the new Federal Reserve 
Banks were present for the establishment of credits. In October, 
1917, Congress enacted the greatest war revenue bill ever pre- 
sented to the taxpayers of a nation in all the history of legislation, 
the sum levied being in the neighborhood of $3,000,000,000. A 
portion of the sum borrowed was secured by the sale of war 
savings stamps, but by far the greater part of the borrowed money 
was obtained by the sale of Liberty bonds. Four Liberty loans 
were floated, ranging in amount from $2,000,000,000 to $6,000,- 
000,000. The number of persons who subscribed to the several 
issues of Liberty bonds ranged from 4,000,000 to 21,000,000. 
Just after the war ended a Victory loan of $4,500,000,000 was 
floated. By the time the war was well over the bonded debt of the 
nation had mounted to the staggering sum of $25,000,000,000. 

Ships and food and money were not enough. There was the 
fourth task — the sending abroad of an armed force. At the 
beginning of the war it was thought that the United States might 
not be called upon to send very large armies across the waters, 
but this proved to be a mistaken view. Immediately after our 
entrance General Joffre visited the United States and urgently 
requested that American troops should be sent to France as soon 
as possible. President Wilson decided that General Pershing with 
a small force of men should be promptly despatched for duty on 
the fighting line in France. Accordingly by July 4 a battalion of 
American soldiers were in Paris parading through the streets 
amid the enthusiastic demonstrations of the people. But the 
number of trained soldiers that could be sent to the front was a 
mere handful compared to the number that would be needed if we 
were to do any real fighting. Our regular army consisted of only 
about 100,000 men. In previous wars we had always depended 
upon volunteers to come forward when the trumpet was sounded, 
but this time volunteering was rather slow. Congress accordingly 
decided that conscription was necessary. On May 17 the Selective 
Draft Act was passed. This provided that on a day to be named 
by the President, there should be a general registration of all men 
who had reached their twenty-first birthday but who had not 
reached their thirty-first birthday, the purpose of the registration 



CARRYING ON THE WAR 789 

"being to secure an enrolment of names from which to draft £ n , AP - 

soldiers for the army that was to be used in the war against ■ 

Germany. The day named for registration was June 5, a mem- 
orable date in the life of the nation. From ocean to ocean and 
from Canada to Mexico, the married and unmarried, foreigners 
and native-born Americans, the strong and the weak, the rich and 
the poor, to the number of nearly 10,000,000, entered registration 
offices in tens of thousands of communities and were enrolled for 
service in the war. Such a spectacle was never before witnessed 
in the history of the world. It was conscription, but to the mind 
of President Wilson it was in no sense a conscription of the 
unwilling; it was rather, he said, selection from a nation which 
had already volunteered in a mass. From the whole number of 
registrants the President was empowered to call out first 500,000 
men and then an additional 500,000. After the machinery of con- 
scription was set in motion, the number of men authorized by 
Congress to be drafted was increased and the age limit for registra- 
tion was extended to forty-five years. The size of the National 
Army — as the newly organized force was called — went on increas- 
ing until it reached nearly 4,000,000, while the total number of 
registrants exceeded 24,000,000. Thus every ounce of the poten- 
tial military strength possessed by the nation was placed at the 
service of the Government. 

Military strength alone no longer wins wars. The men at the supporting 
guns must be supported by the social and industrial forces or the the Front 
nation. An agency of incalculable value to the American army 
and navy was the Council of National Defense, which Congress, as 
if foreseeing the day of war, created in August, 1916. The council 
was composed of six members of the cabinet and was assisted by 
an advisory commission composed of experts in the industries most 
essential to the prosecution of the war. Its chief function was to 
coordinate the industries of the country and get them in touch 
with the Government. More than one hundred highly trained 
men from almost every walk of life gave their entire time to the 
work of the council and gave it gratis. In addition to the thou- 
sands who took part in the work of the council, vast numbers of 
men and women in no way connected with the Government assisted 
in doing the things that were necessary for the winning of the war. 
Bankers and writers and orators joined in making appeals to the 
people to lend their money to Uncle Sam. When the Red Cross 



790 



THE GREAT WAR 



xxxv asked for a £ ift of $100,000,000, men and women all over the 

country took up the task of raising the money, with the result 

that the drive for "humanity" dollars was more than successful 
As in the Civil War, so now, the women of the nation came 
forward to do their "bit," and nothing could be worthy of more 
praise and admiration than their devotion and loyalty. 
Training In military circles the energies of officers were devoted during 

Tremendous the first months of the war to the training of the boys who were 

Scale 

to go to France. As a rule before a soldier could be made ready 
for the firing line he had first to be trained six months at home 
and then two or three months abroad. The training was done on 
a tremendous scale and was carried forward with commendable 
rapidity. For the housing of the men it was necessary to build 
little army cities called cantonments. In each cantonment there 
were accommodations for nearly fifty thousand soldiers. "Thirty- 
two of these encampments were built in ninety days from the 
driving of the first nail, complete in every municipal detail, a feat 
declared impossible and which will stand for all time as a building 
miracle." In addition to the cantonments there were numerous 
schools for the training of officers, engineers, aviators, and others 
whose duties were of a special nature. Altogether facilities were 
established for training at a single time nearly a million and a half 
of men. 
th^Bo"! ^ ^ e au tumn of 1917 the training-camps were active and a 

0ver stream of soldiers bound for France was beginning to flow. At 

first it seemed there were not enough ships in the world to carry 
the Americans over. But in one way and another vessels were 
found. Carriers of almost every description were pressed into 
service. About one hundred German vessels lying interned in 
American harbors were eagerly seized. In scores of American 
shipyards hundreds of thousands of men worked with all their 
might to build as quickly as possible the ships that were so badly 
needed. Vessels of neutral nations were hired, while the allies of 
course furnished all the assistance possible. Of the men trans- 
ported nearly half were carried in British ships. As the months 
passed the stream of American soldiers moving toward France 
widened and grew in volume until it became a mighty flood. By 
the end of 1917 our boys were going over at the rate of 50,000 a 
month; by July, 1918, they were being rushed across at the rate 
of 10,000 a day. In all more than 2,000,000 were transported to 



CARRYING ON THE WAR 791 

France. And they crossed in safety : the submarines were cheated ^^? 

of their prey. Not a single transport ship on its voyage to France 

was lost. 

It was lucky for the allies that Americans appeared upon the Gambier'a 
scene in impressive numbers in the spring of 1918 ; for it was then pirate** 
that Germany was making an effort to crush her enemies by a series Chance 
of terrific blows. Massing nearly 4,000,000 men early in 1918, 
she began on March 21 a forward movement which for a while 
caused the whole world to hold its breath in suspense. The allies 
were pushed back and for several days it seemed that their line 
would break and that Amiens, a great railroad center and a depot 
of British supplies, would be captured. If this city should be 
taken the Germans would either press on to the channel ports or 
would move southward upon Paris. But Amiens was saved and 
the first drive was a failure. Germany was quick, however*, to begin 
a second drive, for she was now taking a gambler's last desperate 
chance. She was no more successful in the second thrust than she 
was in the first. Late in May she began a third drive. By this 
time the allies were reaping the advantage that comes with unity 
of control, for the troops of the United States, Great Britain, and 
Italy, as well as those of France, had all been placed under the 
direction of General Ferdinand Foch. And the allies were also 
gaining in the matter of morale, for their lines were being strength- 
ened by substantial numbers of American troops. Near Chateau- 
Thierry our boys on June 6 drove back the Germans on a two-mile 
front and took a goodly number of prisoners. "We all thank 
God," said President Wilson, "that our men went in force into the 
line of battle just at the critical moment when the whole fate of 
the world seemed to hang in the balance, and threw their fresh 
strength into the ranks of freedom in time to turn the whole tide 
and sweep of the fateful struggle." The victory of the Americans Amnions 
at Chateau-Thierry caused the Germans to realize that they had to |g*J** ta 
deal with a new foe and with one that could fight. They made Moment 
two more drives, but both times they were foiled. By the middle 
of July they saw that their mighty offensive movement had spent 
its force and that they must have recourse to a defensive cam- 
paign. This change of tactics was the beginning of the end. 
General Foch assumed the offensive and before many weeks had 
passed the Germans were on the retreat, suffering defeat after 
defeat. In driving the enemy back, the Americans rendered a 



792 



THE GREAT WAR 



service which all the time increased in effectiveness, for their 
numbers were constantly swelling. At St. Mihiel in a three days' 
fight (September 11-13) they drove the Germans from a position 
which they had long held, captured 16,000 prisoners, and recov- 
ered 200 square miles of territory. In the Argonne forest every 
available American division was thrown against the enemy and 
every available German division was thrown in to meet them. In 




Map Showing Where the Americans Fought 



this engagement troops on the American side numbered nearly 
1,200,000. Beginning in the last days of September, the battle in 
the Argonne continued for forty-seven days. Foot by foot Ameri- 
can troops pushed back German divisions, destroying their morale 
and breaking their power. 

Long before the fighting in the Argonne was over Germany 
knew that she was beaten. On October 4 she addressed a note to 
President Wilson requesting him to bring about the immediate 
conclusion of a general armistice on land, on water, and in the air. 
As a basis for peace negotiations Germany accepted the program 
laid down by the President of the United States in his message to 



CAERYING ON THE WAR 793 

Congress of January 8, 1918, and in his subsequent pronounce- ^£- 

ments, particularly in his address of September 27, 1918. In the ■ 

January speech were the celebrated ' ' fourteen points ' ' : open 
diplomacy openly arrived at ; the freedom of the seas in peace and 
war; the removal of economic barriers between nations; the reduc- 
tion of armaments; the impartial adjustment of colonial claims; 
the evacuation of Russian territory ; the evacuation and restoration 
of Belgium; a guarantee of the political and economic inde- 
pendence of the Balkan states; the righting of the wrong done to 
Alsace-Lorraine ; the people of Austria-Hungary to be given oppor- The 
tunity for autonomous development ; the Dardanelles to be opened Poin ts" 
permanently as a free passage to the commerce of the world; an 
independent Poland; a readjustment of the frontiers of Italy; a 
general association of nations. In the September speech the 
President, after dwelling in general terms upon what he consid- 
ered the essentials of a just peace, had declared that no peace could 
be made by any kind of bargain or compromise within the govern- 
ments of the Central Empires. "They have convinced us," he 
said, "that they are without honor and do not intend justice." 
On this point of not dealing with the military masters of Germany 
Wilson was strongly insistent: before he would enter into nego- 
tiations for an armistice he must first be informed whether the 
imperial chancellor — who was the medium of communication — was 
speaking for the military authorities of the empire. Having been 
assured that the existing government, in which many changes had 
just been made, was in agreement with a majority of the Reichstag 
and that the chancellor was speaking in the name of the German 
people, the President consented to arrange for an armistice. 
But in accordance with the wishes of the allies the original terms 
were amended in two important particulars : first, the allies and 
the United States reserved to themselves the right to interpret the 
phrase "the freedom of the seas" in such manner as they might 
see fit; secondly, they also insisted that the stipulation that in- 
vaded territories must be "restored as well as evacuated" must 
be interpreted to mean "that compensation will be made by 
Germany for all damage done to the civilian population of the 
allies and their property by the aggressions of Germany, by land, 
by sea, and from the air." Before the armistice could go into Terms 
effect Germany must agree to withdraw her soldiers from Belgium Armistice 
and France; to surrender her submarines and disarm most of her 



794 THE GREAT WAR 

xxxv battle-ships; to hand over to the allies immense numbers of can- 
non, machine-guns, aeroplanes, locomotives, and freight-cars; to 
allow the German territory west of the Rhine to be occupied by 
the allied armies. In brief, Germany must virtually disarm herself 
and agree to an unconditional surrender. While the German 
Government was considering the terms of the armistice the kaiser 
abdicated and fled to Holland and a German republic was set up. 
On November 11 Germany formally agreed to the terms of the 
armistice. "The war," said President Wilson, when announcing 
the terms of the surrender to Congress, "thus comes to an end, for 
having accepted these terms it will be impossible for the German 
command to renew it. ' ' 

Never before in all history had there been such a cruel, costly, 
and bloody struggle. The fighting lasted fifty-two months. 
Nearly every important nation on earth was engaged. About 
7,000,000 men were killed and 15,000,000 wounded. Of Ameri- 
cans, about 50,000 lost their lives and 200,000 were wounded. 
The money cost of the war to all the countries engaged was about 
$200,000,000,000. America's share, if to the military cost we add 
the extra cost of Government functions, relief contributions, pen- 
sion costs — immediate and prospective — and other outlays made 
necessary by the war, was close to $50,000,000,000. But these figures 
only begin to tell the financial story. Europe was left bankrupt. 
Among the defeated powers Austria, Hungary, and Germany in 
1921 each had a national debt in excess of its wealth. The total 
national debts of the world in 1920, according to an estimate made 
by O. P. Austin, w r as $265,000,000,000, a sum slightly in excess of 
the total estimated national wealth of Great Britain, France, Italy, 
and Germany. When thinking of the stupendous legacy of debt 
left by the Great War the words of James G. Blaine are recalled. 
"It is a melancholy thought," said Blaine once when speaking of 
national debts, "that this almost incalculable sum of money was 
borrowed and expended, not to promote the ends of peace, not to 
develop agriculture or the mechanic arts, not to build highways 
for commerce and trade, not to improve harbors and the naviga- 
tion of rivers, not to found institutions of learning or of charity 
or of mercy, not to elevate the standard of culture among the 
masses — not for any or all of these laudable objects, but for the 
waste, the cruelty, the untold agonies of war." 



CHRONOLOGY 795 



NOTES AND CHRONOLOGY 

(This material is indexed. It does not include subjects treated in the 
main body of the text.) 

1914 June 28 Assassination of the Archduke of Austria. 
July 28 Austria declares war upon Serbia. 

July 30 Germany demands that Russian mobilization cease. 
August 1 Germany declares war upon Russia. 

" 2 Germany demands safe passage through Belgium, which is 

refused. 
" 4 Germany declares war upon France. 

Great Britain declares war upon Germany. 

Germans attack Liege. 

Austria declares war upon Russia. 

Portugal announces herself an ally of Great Britain. 

France declares war upon Austria. 

French war office announces that troops are in contact from 

Holland to Switzerland, a distance of 240 miles. 

Great Britain declares war on Austria. 

Japan declares war on Germany. 

German army checked at the Marne and bent back. 

Turkey begins war on Russia. 

1915 Feb. 18 German submarine "blockade" of Great Britain begins. 
The Falaba, a passenger ship, sunk by a German submarine, 
with the loss of one American citizen. 
American tanker, Gulflight, torpedoed. 
Italy declares war upon Austria. 
Bulgaria declares war on Serbia. 
Henry Ford with peace party sails to get the boys out of 

the trenches by Christmas. 
9 The German chancellor tells Socialists in Reichstag that war 
must go on until Allies ask for peace. 

1916 Feb. 28 French checked German advance upon Verdun. 
Mar. 8 Germany declares war upon Portugal. 

May 25 The British Compulsory Service Bill was passed. 
" 31 Battle off coast of Jutland between British and German 
fleets. 
Aug. 27 Italy declared war on Germany. 

Rumania enters war on the side of the Allies. 
Dec. 7 David Lloyd-George accepts the post of Prime Minister. 
" 21 Secretary Lansing announces that the United States are 

drawing near to the verge of war. 
" 24 Germany replies to President Wilson's note to the belliger- 
ents proposing an "immediate meeting of delegates of the 
belligerent states at a neutral place." 
" 30 The Allies reply to the peace note of Germany, refusing "to 
consider a proposal which is empty and insincere." 

1917 Feb. 28 The United States Government makes public the Zimmer- 

mann note. (This note, addressed to the German Minister 
to Mexico, read as follows : 

"Berlin, Jan. 19, 1917. — On February 1 we intend to 



" 


5 


14 


6 


II 


8 


II 


10 


" 


12 


» 


12 


" 


23 


Sept. 


12 


Oct. 


29 


Feb. 


18 


Mar. 


28 


Apr. 


30 


May 


23 


Oct. 


14 


Dec. 


4 



796 THE GREAT WAR 

begin submarine warfare unrestricted. In spite of this, it 
is our intention to endeavor to keep neutral the United 
States of America. If this attempt is not successful we 
propose an alliance on the following basis with Mexico : 
That we shall make war together and together make peace. 
We shall give general financial support and it is understood 
that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, 
Texas and Arizona. The details are left to you for settle- 
ment. You are instructed to inform the President of 
Mexico of the above in the greatest confidence as soon as it 
is certain that there will be an outbreak of war with the 
United States and suggest that the President of Mexico, on 
his own initiative, should communicate with Japan, sug- 
gesting adherence at once with this plan. At the same time, 
offer to mediate between Germany and Japan. Please call to 
the attention of the President of Mexico that the employment 
of ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel Eng- 
land to make peace in a few months.") 

1917 Mar. 11 The Russian Revolution has its beginnings in Petrograd. 
Czar Nicholas II abdicates the throne of Russia. 
Congress passes the Espionage Bill. 

The first contingent of American troops arrives in France. 
The drawing of draft numbers under the Conscription Act 
begins in Washington. 
Siberia declares war on Germany. 
China declares war on Germany. 
An appeal for peace is made to the belligerents by Pope 

Benedict. 

Brazil declared war upon Germany. 

American troops in France fired their first shot in trench 
warfare. 
Nov. 10 Lenine is named as Premier of Russia and Leon Trotsky 
as Minister of Foreign Affairs. 
Georges Clemenceau becomes Premier of France. 
Lord Landsdowne makes his peace proposal. 
The Rainbow Division of the U. S. A. reaches France. 
The United States declares war on Austria. 

1918 Jan. 31 United States troops for first time occupy first-line trenches. 
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is entered into by the Central 
Powers and the Bolsheviki, the latter agreeing to evacuate 
Ukrania, Esthonia, Livonia, and Finland. 

11 President Wilson sends message to Congress of Soviets ex- 
pressing sympathy with the Russian people. 
The big German drive of 1918 begins. 

Paris is bombarded by long-range "fat Bertha" guns from a 
distance of 75 miles ; 10 killed, 15 wounded. 
The German drive is checked. 

General Foch is given command of the Allied armies. 
Second big German drive begins. 

West of Chateau-Thierry United States troops drive Ger- 
mans back a mile on a two-mile front. 

12 United States troops seize Belleau Wood. 



Mar. 


11 


" 


15 


June 


12 


" 


26 


July 


20 


Aug. 


7 


" 


14 


" 


15 


Oct. 


26 


" 


27 



" 


15 


" 


29 


" 


30 


Dec. 


7 


Jan. 


31 


Mar. 


3 



«• 


21 


M 


23 


II 


29 


Apr. 


13 


May 


27 


June 


6 



CHRONOLOGY 797 

1918 June 12 London announces that the German advance had practically 
ceased. 
July 13 General March announces that more than 750,000 American 
troops are in France. 
Haiti declares war on Germany. 
Honduras declares war on Germany. 
Germany begins a retreat across the Marne. 
General March announces that 32 United States army divi- 
sions are on French soil. 

General Pershing's forces practically wipe out the St. Mihiel 
salient. 
" 21 General March announces that 1,750,000 American soldiers 

have been sent abroad. 
" 30 Bulgaria drops out of the war. 
Oct. 14 President Wilson informs Germany that an armistice must 
depend upon the assurance of the military supremacy of 
the armies of the Allies and of the United States. 
Nov. 6 Austria accepts terms of truce and an armistice goes into 
effect. 
8 The German Chancellor, unable to control the Socialists, 
the most powerful bloc in the Reichstag, resigns. 
" 10 The Emperor of Germany and suite flee to Holland. 



" 


15 


44 


19 


Aug. 


21 


Sept. 


13 



XXXVI 
AFTER THE WAR 



Wilson in 
Europe 



A Stern 
Reckoning 



Making a Peace 

SIX days before the armistice was signed the congressional 
elections resulted in restoring the Republicans to power both 
in the Senate and in the House. For six years the Democrats had 
been in control of the Government and Wilson's wishes had pre- 
vailed. When Congress passed under the control of the Republi- 
cans on March 4, 1919, the Wilsonian leadership in domestic 
affairs virtually came to an end. 

In world affairs, however, Wilson continued to hold the center 
of the stage. A few days after the signing of the armistice it was 
announced that he would attend in person the peace conference 
which was to meet in Paris. Reaching the Continent several 
weeks before the assembling of the conference, he made tours in 
England, France, and Italy, and wherever he went he was received 
with unbounded enthusiasm. The peoples of Europe seemed to 
regard him as their chosen spokesman. His power at one time was 
probably greater than that of any other man in the world. "Your 
man Wilson," said Lord Northcliffe early in 1919 to a group of 
newspaper men, "can smash any cabinet in Europe." The popu- 
larity of the American President was due largely to the lofty 
idealism of his utterances. 

But a green table around which a peace settlement is to be made 
is a poor place for lofty idealism. There had been a victory, an 
overwhelming victory, and, as the President had foreshadowed, 1 
the peace was a "victor's terms imposed upon the vanquished." 
The representatives of Germany were not allowed to come to 
Paris until the terms were ready, and when they came their only 
function was to sign the document presented to them. On June 28, 
1919, the treaty was concluded at Versailles. It contained two 



'See p. 776. 



798 



MAKING A PEACE 799 

general features: a stern reckoning with Germany, and a plan for chap. 

l XXXVI 

a League of Nations. Germany must give up all her colonies ; she ■ 

must cede Alsace-Lorraine to France; she must abolish conscrip- 
tion, and reduce her army to 100,000 men; she must reduce her 
navy to a few fighting ships and must have no submarines at all; 
she must devote her economic resources to the renovating of the 
region devastated by her armies in France and Belgium ; she must 
restore to Britain and the other allied peoples the shipping, ton 
for ton, which she had sunk or destroyed; she must deliver each 
year to France and Belgium many millions of tons of coal in return 
for the coal taken by her during the war; she must agree to the 
payment of a money indemnity vastly larger than any that had 
ever before been demanded of a conquered nation. The League of The League 
Nations provided for machinery by which it was hoped that uni- 
versal peace might be secured and international cooperation pro- 
moted. The league was to act through an assembly comprising 
not more than three representatives of each of the member states, 
and a council comprising one representative of each of the great 
powers having membership in the league. In the assembly and 
also in the council each state was to have one vote. Either the 
council or the assembly was authorized to deal with any question 
that might have an international interest or that might threaten 
the peace of the world. The league accepted certain responsibili- 
ties with regard to labor conditions, declaring that an eight-hour 
day should be the standard aimed at and subscribing to the prin- 
ciple that men and women ought to receive the same pay for the 
same service. 

In July the Treaty of Versailles was laid before the Senate of The senate 
the United States for ratification. The league, the President Treaty of 
declared, was the only hope of mankind, and to reject it would 
leave the way open for another war. But in the Senate the league 
met with powerful opposition, the attack being directed chiefly 
against Article X, which read: "The high contracting parties 
undertake to respect and preserve as against external aggression 
the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all 
States members of the League. In case of any such aggression or 
in case of any threat or danger of such aggression, the Executive 
Council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation 
shall be fulfilled." Under this article, said the opponents of the 
league, the United States could be forced to go to war over 



Versailles 



800 



AFTER THE WAR 



CHAP. 
XXXVI 



European controversies without regard to the wishes of Congress. 
In order to rally public sentiment the President went before the 
people, urging them to support the league. He addressed large 
audiences in almost every section of the country. On his way back 
from the Pacific coast he suffered a nervous collapse and was 
forced to return to Washington, where for several months he was 
confined to the White House. In the meanwhile the struggle in the 
Senate continued and by November, 1919, a situation developed 
which resulted in the defeat of the treaty and the indefinite 
postponement of the entire subject. This outcome left us tech- 
nically at war with Germany, although in reality we were at 
peace with her. The Treaty of Versailles was ratified by enough 
European nations to enable it to be proclaimed on January 10, 
1920. Six days later the first meeting of the council of the league 
was held. 

Reconstruction 



Disbanding 
the Army 



The Eight- 
eenth and 
Nineteenth 
Amend- 
ments 



While attempts were being made to restore normal international 
relations the country was striving as best it could to readjust itself 
to the new conditions produced by the upheavals of the war. The 
first thing to be done was to disband an army of 4,000,000 men, 
half of whom were in France and half in America. Demobiliza- 
tion was carried forward with such energy that within twelve 
months after the signing of the armistice virtually all the boys 
who had gone to France were back in America and all in the home 
camps were released. The nation that had been bristling with 
arms assumed an aspect that grew more and more peaceful until 
at last a soldier in uniform was rarely seen. By 1922 the armed 
force of the United States consisted of considerably less than 
150,000 men. 

In the wake of the war came two amendments to the Constitu- 
tion. The first of these undertook to bring about a great social 
reform. While the fighting was going on the enemies of the 
saloons worked with all their might in behalf of prohibition, with 
the result that by January, 1919, the legislatures of forty-nine 
States had ratified the Eighteenth Amendment, which prohibits 
the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors for beverage 
purposes within the United States and all territory subject to the 
national jurisdiction. The adoption of this amendment was fol- 



RECONSTRUCTION 801 

lowed by the Volstead Act (October, 1919), a law which prescribed g[xvi 

in great detail rules for the enforcement of prohibition. The 

second of the amendments brought about a sweeping and remark- The 

Volstead 

able political reform. The advocates of equal suffrage x remained A <* 
industrious during the war and brought State after State into 
line. Seeking to secure nation-wide suffrage, they prevailed upon 
Congress to submit to the States for ratification the Nineteenth 
Amendment, which expressly declares that sex shall not be a bar 
to suffrage. The amendment was carried through the legislature 
with great rapidity and by August, 1920, having been ratified by 
three fourths of the States, was proclaimed as part of the Con- 
stitution. Henceforth American democracy was to be theoretically 
100 per cent pure. 

The war had hardly begun before it became plain that there was The 

J ° ^ Burnett 

present in the United States a large body of foreigners who might Bin 
easily become a menace to the country and its institutions. As a 
restrictive measure, the Burnett Bill was passed (1917). This 
law raised the tax on immigrants from $4 to $8; imposed heavy 
penalties for bringing in persons whom the law seeks to exclude; 
and established a " literacy test" by requiring that all immigrants 
over sixteen years of age should be able to read in some language. 
It was soon seen that merely to put up the bars against foreigners 
would not solve the problem with which the country was confronted. 
Something would have to be done about the aliens who had 
already come in. In twelve years before the outbreak of the war 
with Germany nearly 15,000,000 foreigners — Italians, Russians, 
Greeks, Poles, Hungarians, Rumanians — came to America and 
entered industrial life. But they did not enter into the real life 
of the American people. They could not speak our language, and 
in respect to our government and laws and traditions they were of 
course in a woeful state of ignorance. Nearly 6,000,000 of them 
were such complete strangers in America and cared so little for American- 
US that they had no desire to become citizens of the United States. lzat,on 
The problem was one of Americanization : these millions of for- 
eigners must be assimilated into American life; they must be 
taught to live in the American way; they must be indoctrinated 
in American ideals and acquire an affection for America. In a 
local way tasks of Americanization were taken up by public 
spirited citizens and much good work was done. At the close of 
x See p. 738. 



802 



AFTER THE WAR 



CHAP. 

XXXVI 



The 

Transporta- 
tion Act of 
1920 



Railroad 

Labor 

Board 



the war there were indications that Uncle Sam also would assist in 
Americanization work. In 1920 the Kenyon Americanization Bill 
providing for the instruction of aliens through the cooperation of 
the Federal Government and the States passed in the United States 
Senate ; but it was not acted upon by the House. The only attempt 
made by Congress after the war to deal with the immigrant ques- 
tion was to pass in 1921 a restrictive measure which provided that 
for a period of one year the number of aliens of any nationality 
permitted to come to the United States in any fiscal year should 
not exceed 3 per cent of the foreign-born persons of the same 
nationality already living here, taking the census of 1910 as the 
basis of computation. In 1922 the 3 per cent rule was extended 
for the period of one more year. 

More immediate and pressing than the immigrant question was 
the transportation problem. By the end of 1917 the railroad 
service had become so bad that war activities were being interfered 
with. Accordingly the Government, acting under the authority of 
a law passed in 1916, issued an order assuming full control of the 
railroads. "Over 400 separate corporations, 650,000 shareholders, 
260,000 miles of road, property valued at $17,500,000,000, and 
about 1,600,000 employees were affected by this order." When 
peace came the owners of the railroads asked that their property 
be returned to them. Federal control was terminated by the 
Transportation Act of 1920. One outstanding feature of this law 
was the power given to the Interstate Commerce Commission to 
establish minimum as well as maximum charges; that is, to estab- 
lish an absolute rate. In all cases, however, the commission must 
prescribe such rates as will give a fair return on the aggregate 
value of the property used in transportation, a provision which 
has been construed as being a guarantee to the railroads that their 
business shall be profitable. Another significant feature of the 
law was the creation of a Railroad Labor Board consisting of nine 
members to be appointed by the President. Three of the members 
of the board must be representatives of the railroad workers, three 
of the railroad officials, and three of the general public. The 
central office of the board is to be located in Chicago. The salary 
of each member is $10,000 a year. The board, when called upon to 
do so, may, after investigation, fix just and reasonable wages and 
salaries for railroad workers; but if its rulings are not complied 
with, if the workers refuse to accept the wages fixed by the board 




803 



804 



AFTER THE WAR 



CHAP. 
XXXVI 



The 

Kansas 
Court of 
Industrial 
Relations 



The Jones 
Water- 
Power Bill 



and strike, the trains must stop running. There is no penalty for 
violating a ruling of the board. When a decision of the board is 
disobeyed, its only recourse is to make a public statement and rely 
upon public opinion to give sanction to its findings. The law of 
1920 also gave the Interstate Commerce Commission power to 
regulate the bond issues of railroads, a power that it ought to have 
had much earlier. 1 The Transportation Act of 1920 by the con- 
fession of its advocates went as far in the direction of govern- 
ment regulation as it was possible to go; the next step would be 
government ownership. 2 

The creation of the Railroad Labor Board was a radical 
departure from the customary method of dealing with wage ques- 
tions, but the step was taken in the hope that it would protect the 
public from the disastrous effects of strikes. In Kansas action of 
a still more radical nature was taken about the same time. The 
legislature of that State in January, 1920, established a court of 
industrial relations, giving it supervision over the manufacture 
and preparation of food products, over the manufacture of cloth- 
ing, over all mining and fuel production, and over the transporta- 
tion of necessities. These designated classes of employments and 
industries were declared by the law to be "affected with a public 
interest and therefore subject to the supervision of the State." 
The underlying purpose of the law was to secure continuity and 
efficiency in the operation of the mines, the railroads, and the other 
designated industries. Hence suspension of operation in such 
manufactures or in mining or transportation was declared to be 
contrary to the spirit of the law, and, if labor controversy should 
arise threatening the continuity of operation, the industrial court 
was clothed with the power to come forward and issue such orders 
as might be necessary to prevent a cessation of operation. If 
either or both parties to the controversy should refuse to obey the 
court's orders, the State was authorized to step in and temporarily 
take over the industry in question and operate it. 

Aside from the Transportation Act and the Volstead Act Fed- 
eral legislation during the last two years of the Wilson admin- 
istration was not of very great importance. There was one other 



a See p. 746. 

' For a full discussion of contemporary railroad questions see "The American 
Railroad Problem" by I. Leo Sharfman ; and "Railroads and Government," by 
Frank Haigh Dixon. 



EECONSTRUCTION 805 

law, however, that wore an aspect of promise. This was the Jones CHAP - 

Water-power Bill, enacted in June, 1920. The measure was 

designed to conserve a portion of the many million horse-power of 
hydro-electric energy that was lying latent in streams and that if 
put to work would result annually in saving hundreds of millions 
of tons of coal. The Jones Bill created a water-power commission 
to which was given authority over all matters coming within the 
Federal jurisdiction pertaining to the development of water-power 
on the public domain and in the natural forests. The commission 
was authorized to issue to citizens of the United States, to corpora- 
tions, to States, and to municipalities, licenses for operating hydro- 
electric plants, the licenses to be given for a period of fifty years. 
The law encouraged the building of head-water storage reservoirs 
to prevent floods and to obtain water for irrigation purposes. 
Thus a comprehensive policy of water-power development was 
instituted by congressional action. 

The policy of increasing the nation's food supply by conserving Reclama- 
tion 
natural resources 1 was still being earnestly carried forward, with 

the result that by 1920 over 150,000 persons were living on 40,000 
farms irrigated by the Federal reclamation service and were 
annually raising crops worth $100,000,000. This was a service of 
the highest value, for there was now a flow of population away 
from the agricultural districts. This was shown by the enumera- 
tion of the fourteenth census, which began in January, 1920. 
When the count of this census was finished it was found that the T r h ^" sus 

of 1920 

population of the United States was 105,683,108.. The most sig- 
nificant fact revealed by the census was that more than half of the 
entire population lived in urban communities. Seventy-five cities 
could claim a population of about 100,000 or more; thirty-five, a 
population of about 200,000 or more; twenty -five, a population of 
about 300,000 or more ; sixteen, 400,000 or more ; twelve, 500,000 
or more. The marvel of urban growth was Detroit, which, jumping 
from less than a half-million in 1910 to nearly a million in 1920, 
passed Baltimore, St. Louis, and Boston, and took its place as the 
fourth city of the nation. The fifth place was taken by Cleveland, 
whose population was nearly 800,000. Los Angeles and Akron 
also made sensational gains, the former nearly doubling and the 
latter more than trebling its population. 

While urban America was gaining, rural America was losing. 

x See p. 719. 



sou 



AFTER THE WAK 



"We Do 

Not Mean 
to Be 
Entangled" 



According to the count of 1920 the urban population increased at a 
rate of 25 per cent while the rate of increase of the rural districts 
was 3.4 per cent. That is to say, cities were increasing in popu- 
lation more than seven times as fast as rural districts. Rural 
communities in some parts of New England had a smaller popu- 
lation than they had a hundred years ago, and in hundreds of 
rural counties scattered over the country there was a decline in 
population. 

The Harding Administration 

Senator Boies Penrose, speaking of the prospective candidates in 
the Presidential contest of 1920, said: "Any good Republican 
can be nominated for President and can defeat any Democrat." 
This shrewd and accomplished politician was reading the signs of 
the time as most people were reading them : at the outset it did noi 
seem that 1920 would be a good year for the Democrats. The 
Republicans, holding their national convention in Chicago, nomi- 
nated Warren G. Harding of Ohio for President and Calvin 
Coolidge of Massachusetts for Vice-President. The Democrats met 
on June 28 in San Francisco and on the forty-fourth ballot nomi- 
nated James M. Cox of Ohio as their candidate for President. 
The Socialists for the fifth time nominated Eugene V. Debs, who 
was in prison serving a sentence for violating the Espionage Act, 
passed while the war was going on. The discussions of the cam- 
paign were directed chiefly to the League of Nations. Should the 
United States join the league, or should we remain outside? Cox 
was for going in ; Harding was for staying out. The election 
resulted in a Republican victory of startling magnitude. Harding 
received 404 electoral votes; Cox, 127. In round numbers the 
popular vote was: Harding, 16,000,000; Cox, 9,000,000; Debs, 
900,000. 

Harding interpreted the election as being a plain mandate from 
the people to have nothing to do with the league. March 4, 1921, 
in his inaugural address, he said: "The recorded progress of our 
republic, materially and spiritually, in itself proves the wisdom 
of the inherited policy of non-involvement in Old World affairs. 
Confident of our ability to work out our own destiny and jealously 
guarding our right to do so, we seek no part in directing the 
destinies of the Old World. We do not mean to be entangled. 



THE HARDING ADMINISTRATION 807 

We will accept no responsibility except as our own conscience and ^xvi 

judgment in each instance may determine. ... In expressing 

aspirations, in seeking practical plans, in translating humanity's 
new concept of righteousness, justice, and its hatred of war into 
recommended action, we are ready most heartily to unite; but 
every commitment must be made in the exercise of our national 
sovereignty. ' ' 

The Congress with which the new President must work was ™f v Budget 
overwhelmingly Republican in both branches. Its first important 
act was to create in June, 1921, a bureau of the budget and provide 
for an orderly administration of the national finances. For years 
Congress had been meeting the expenses of the executive depart- 
ments by a procedure that was "haphazard, uncertain, unbusiness- 
like and indefensibly wasteful." Under the budget plan adopted 
in 1921 provision was made for a full and clear statement of 
expenditures and revenues, and for a detailed estimate of the 
Government's needs and financial resources. At the head of the 
bureau of the budget was placed a director whose duty is to 
prepare the budget which the President transmits to Congress on 
the first day of each regular session. 

Although President Harding seemed anxious to avoid foreign p ea cewith 
complications and entanglements, his administration could not ermany 
wash its hands entirely of Old World affairs. For one thing, 
there was the question of a peace settlement with Germany, a 
question which was left dangling in the air when the Treaty of 
Versailles was rejected. This problem was solved in July, 1921, 
when Congress by a joint resolution provided: "That the state 
of war declared to exist between the Imperial German Government 
and the United States of America by the joint resolution of 
Congress approved April 6, 1917, is hereby declared at an end." 
Then there was the question of disarmament to be dealt with. rw stionof 
The United States was spending more than nine tenths of its D l ^ t rma " 
immense revenues either in paying for past wars or in building up 
armaments for future wars, and the military burdens of other 
nations were even heavier. And this was going on despite the fact 
that the policy of competitive armament was no longer finding 
favor in the eyes of statesmen. In 1911 men, looking upon the 
vast military establishments that a policy of competition was 
building up in Europe, exclaimed: "War is unthinkable!" In 



808 



AFTER THE WAR 



1921 if the same men had beheld the same establishments, they 
would doubtless have exclaimed: "Peace is unthinkable." "The 
enormous disbursements in the rivalries of armaments," said 
Charles Evans Hughes in November, 1921, "manifestly constitute 
the greater part of the encumbrance upon enterprise and national 

Total Appropriations for Year Ending June 30, 1920: $5,686,005,706 



I cent oat of each $1 for PUBLIC WELFARE 
This penny is divided approximately as follows: 

Agriculture and Development of natural resources % 

Education Yi 

Public Health \i 

Labor ] /io 

IB 3 cents out of each $1 for PUBLIC WORKS 
(Harbors, rivers, roads, parks, etc.) 

■i 3 cents out of each $1 for ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNMENT 
(Expenses of the Congress, President, Departments, etc.) 



I 93 cents out of each $1 f or { ? A ^ E ^f MAMENTS 

(Including care of soldiers, pensions, railroad deficit, ship- 
ping board, interest on the public debt, European food 
relief, etc.) 

(From Analysis by E. B. Rosa, Chief Physicist, U. S. Bureau of Standards) 

How Our Nation Spends Its Income 



prosperity ; and avoidable or extravagant expense of this nature is 
not only without justification, but is a constant menace to the 
peace of the world rather than an assurance of its preservation." 
Lloyd George about the same time declared : "It matters not what 
treaties are signed, what pacts are entered into between nations, 
or what understandings they may establish; if nations are armed 
against each other for war, war will inevitably come in the end." 
Accordingly, men's minds began to turn to disarmament. Presi- 
dent Harding, responding doubtless to a resolution which through 
the insistence of Senator W. E. Borah had been attached to a naval 



THE HARDING ADMINISTRATION 809 

appropriation bill, suggested to the governments of Great Britain, xxxvi 

Japan, France, and Italy that there should be "a Conference on 

the subject of Limitation of Armaments, in connection with which ^° n t f ^ ence 
the Pacific and Far Eastern questions should also be discussed." Q f i ™ I 1 l^* ion 
As the suggestion was agreeable to the powers, the conference met ment3 
in Washington on November 11, 1921. Nothing was done at the 
conference in the way of land disarmament, but in accordance with 
a proposal made by Secretary of State Hughes, a sweeping reduc- 
tion in naval construction was agreed upon and a ratio of naval 
strength was established. Under the terms of the Five Power 
Naval Treaty, it was agreed that the United States should have a 
capital ship tonnage of 525,000, Great Britain the same, Japan 
three fifths as much, and France and Italy slightly more than one 
third as much. At the conference also the Four Power Treaty was 
drawn up. The parties to this treaty were the United States, 
Great Britain, France, and Japan. The purpose of the treaty was 
to create in the Orient a diplomatic situation that would be favor- 
able to peace in case controversies should arise. The most signifi- 
cant feature of the treaty was the provision which terminated the 
alliance that had been in force between Great Britain and Japan 
since 1911. Outside of this there was very little in the treaty that' 
was definite. There was almost nothing in it that was binding. 
If a dispute between the four powers or any of them should arise a 
conference would be called, but the action of the conference would 
be binding upon no signatory unless that signatory wanted to be 
bound. 



A READING LIST 

Adams, Charles Francis, Massachusetts, Its Historians and Its History. 

Adams, George Burton, Civilization During the Middle Ages 

Adams, Henry, History of the United States During the Administrations 

of Jefferson and Madison. 
Adams, James Truslow, The Founding of New England. 
Andrews, Charles McLean, Colonial Self -Government. 

Bancroft, Frederic, Life of William H. Seward, 2 vols. 

Bassett, John Spencer, The Life of Andrew Jackson. 

Beard, Charles Austin, An Economic Interpretation o f the Constitution of 

the United States. 
Becker, Carl Lotus, Eve of the Revolution. 
Beer, George Louis, Origins of the British Colonial System. 
Beveridge, Albert Jeremiah, Life of John Marshall, 4 vols. 
Blaine, James G., Twenty Years in Congress, 2 vols. 
Bogart, Ernest Ludlow, Economic History of the United States. 
Bourne, Edward Gaylord, Spain in America. 
Bradford, Gamaliel, Lee the American. 
Brown, W. G., The Lower South in American History. 
Bruce, Philip Alexander, Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth 

Century. 

Callahan, James Morton, The American Expansion Policy. 
Callendar, Guy Stevens, Economic History of the United States. 
Channing, Edward, A History of the United States, 5 vols. 
Cheney, Edward Potts, European Background of American History. 
Coman, Katherine, Industrial History of the United States. 
Commons, John R. (and Associates), History of Labor in the United 
States, 2 vols. 

Davis, Jefferson, Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, 2 vols. 
Dewey, Davis Rich, Financial History of the United States. 
Dexter, Edwin Grant, A History of Education in the United States. 
Doyle, John Andrew, English Colonies in America. 
Dunning, William Archibald, Reconstruction, Political and Economic. 

Farrand, Max, The Framing of the Constitution. 

Fisher, Sydney George, Men, Women and Manners in Colonial Times; 
The Struggle for American Independence. 

811 



812 A READING LIST 

Fiske, John, Old Virginia and Her Neighbors; The Butch and Quaker 
Colonies in America; The Critical Period of American History. 

Fite, Emerson David, Social and Industrial Conditions in the North During 
the Civil War. 

Fleming, Walter Lynwood, Ed., Documentary History of Reconstruction, 

2 vols. 

Garrison, George Pierce, Westward Extension. 
Gordy, John Pancoast, History of Political Parties. 
Green, John Richard, A Short History of the English People. 
Griffis, William Elliot, The Pilgrims in Their Three Homes — England. 
Holland and America. 

Haworth, Paul L., The United States in Our Own Times. 
Henderson, Archibald, The Conquest of the Old Southwest. 
Henderson, G. P. R., Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War. 
Hildreth, Richard, History of the United States, 6 vols. 
Hill, Frederick Trevor, Decisive Battles of the Law. 
Hitchcock, Ripley, Decisive Battles of American History. 

Johnson, Allen, The Life of Stephen A. Douglas. 

Kuhns, Oscar, The German and Swede Settlement of Colonial Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Latane, John H., America as a World Power. 

Learned, Henry Barrett, The President's Cabinet. 

Lecky, W. E. H., The American Revolution. 

Lingley, Charles Ramsdell, Since the Civil War. 

Lippincott, Isaac, Economic Development of the United States. 

MacDonald, William, Jacksonian Democracy. 
McElroy, Robert McNutt, Kentucky in the Nation's History. 
McLaughlin, Andrew Cunningham, The Confederation and the Constitu- 
tion. 
McMaster, John Bach, A History of the People of the United States, 

3 vols. 

Mahan, Alfred Thayer, Sea Power in Its Relation to the War of 1812. 
Muzzey, David Saville, Life of Thomas Jefferson. 

Oberholzer, Ellis Paxson, History of the United States Since the Civil War. 
Ogg, Eredeiic Austin, The Opening of the Mississippi; National Progress. 
Osgood, Herbert Levi, The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century. 

Parkman, Francis, Pioneers of France in the New World; The Old Regime 
in Canada. 



A READING LIST 813 

Peck, Harry Thurston, Twenty Years of the Republic. 
Phillips, Ulrich Bonnell, American Negro Slavery. 

Rhodes, James Ford, History of the United States, 7 vols. 

Ring-wait, J. L., Development of Transportation System in the United 
States. 

Robinson, J. H., and Beard, C. A., Readings in Modern European His- 
tory, 2 vols. 

Rochefoucald-Liancourt, Travels Through the United States, 1795-1797, 
2 vols. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, The Winning of the West. 

Ropes, John Codman, Story of the Civil War, 3 vols. 

Ross, Edward Alsworth, The Old World in the New. 

Schafer, Joseph, History of the Pacific Northwest. 

Schouler, James, History of the United States, 7 vols. 

Sehurz, Carl, Henry Clay. 

Simons, A. M., Social Forces in American History. 

Sparks, Edwin Erie, National Development. 

Stanwood, Edward, History of the Presidency, 2 vols. 

Straus, Oscar Solomon, Roger Williams, the Pioneer of Religious Liberty. 

Tarbell, Ida M., The Life of Abraham Lincoln. 
Taussig, Frank William, Tariff History of the United States. 
Trent, W. P., A History of American Literature. 
Trevelyan, Gr. 0., The American Revolution, 3 vols. 

Van Metre, Thurman W., Economic History of the United States. 

Warren, Charles, The Supreme Court in United States History, 3 vols. 

Wendell, Barrett, A Literary History of America. 

Wilson, Woodrow, George Washington. 

Winsor, Justin, The Westivard Movement; From Cartier to Frontenac. 

Woodburn, James Albert, Thaddeus Stevens. 

Woodward, W. H., The Expansion of the British Empire. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect 
union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the com- 
mon defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of 
liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Con- 
stitution for the United States of America. 

ARTICLE I 

Section 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a 
Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House 
of Representatives. 

Section 2. 1 The House of Representatives shall be composed of 
members chosen every second year by the people of the several States, and 
the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors 
of the most numerous branch of the State legislature. 

2 No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to 
the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United 
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in 
which he shall be chosen. 

3 Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the 
several States which may be included within this Union, according to 
their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the 
whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a 
term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other 
persons. 1 The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after 
the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every 
subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. 
The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thou- 
sand, but each State shall have at least one representative; and until such 
enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled 
to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plan- 
tations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsyl- 
vania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina 
five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. 

4 When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the 
executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such 
vacancies. 

5 The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other 
officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment. 

Section 3. 1 The Senate of the United States shall be composed of 
two Senators from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof for six 
years; and each senator shall have one vote. 

2 Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first 

1 The last half of this sentence was superseded by the 13th and 14th Amend- 
ments. (See p. 490, following.) 

814 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 815 

election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The 
seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration 
of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, 
and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one 
third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resig- 
nation, or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any State, the 
executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next 
meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies. 

3 No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age 
of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and 
who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which 
he shall be chosen. 

4 The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the 
Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. 

5 The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president pro 
tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise 
the office of President of the United States. 

6 The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When 
sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the 
President of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall preside: 
and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds 
of the members present. 

7 Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to 
removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of 
honor, trust or profit under the United States: but the party convicted 
shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and 
punishment, according to law. 

Section 4. 1 The times, places, and manner of holding elections for 
senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the 
legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or 
alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. 

2 The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such 
meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by 
law appoint a different day. 

Section 5. 1 Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns 
and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall 
constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn 
from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of 
absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each House 
may provide. 

2 Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its 
members for disorderly behaviour, and, with the concurrence of two 
thirds, expel a member. 

3 Each House shall keep a journal of its proceeding's, and from time 
to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judg- 
ment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either 
House on any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, 
be entered on the journal. 

4 Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the 
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other 
place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 

Section 6. 1 The senators and representatives shall receive a com- 



816 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

pensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of 
the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, 
felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during: their 
attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to 
and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either 
House, they shall not be questioned in any other place. 

2 No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was 
elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United 
States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall 
have been increased during such time; and no person holding any office 
under the United States shall be a member of either House during his 
continuance in office. 

Section 7. 1 All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House 
of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amend- 
ments as on other bills. 

2 Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives 
and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Presi- 
dent of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he 
shall return it, with his objections to that House in which it shall have 
originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and 
proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds of 
that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the 
objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, 
and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But 
in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas 
and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill 
shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any 
bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays 
excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a 
law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their 
adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law. 

3 Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a 
question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the 
United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved 
by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds 
of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and 
limitations prescribed in the case of a bill. 

Section 8. 1 The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, 
duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common 
defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts 
and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; 

2 To borrow money on the credit of the United States ; 

3 To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several 
States, and with the Indian tribes; 

4 To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on 
the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States; 

5 To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and 
fix the standard of weights and measures; 

6 To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and 
current coin of the United States; 

7 To establish post offices and post roads; 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 817 

8 To promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for 
limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their re- 
spective writings and discoveries ; 

9 To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; 

10 To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high 
seas, and offenses against the law of nations; 

11 To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make 
rules concerning captures on land and water; 

12 To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to 
that use shall be for a longer term than two years; 

13 To provide and maintain a navy; 

14 To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and 
naval forces; 

15 To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the 
Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions; 

16 To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and 
for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of 
the United States, reserving to the States respectively the appointment 
of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the 
discipline prescribed by Congress; 

17 To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such 
district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular 
States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government 
of the United States, 1 and to exercise like authority over all places pur- 
chased by the consent of the legislature of the State in which the same 
shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, .dockyards, and 
other needful buildings ; and 

18 To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carry- 
ing into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested 
by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any 
department or officer thereof. 

Section 9. 1 The migration or importation of such persons as any 
of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be 
prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred 
and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not 
exceeding ten dollars for each person. 2 

2 The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, 
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may re- 
quire it. 

3 No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. 

4 No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion 
to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken. 

5 No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. 

6 No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or 
revenue to the ports of one State over those of another : nor shall vessels 
bound to, or from, one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in 
another. 

7 No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of 
appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of 

1 The District of Columbia, which comes under these regulations, had not 
then been erected. 

a A temporary clause, no longer in force. See also Article V, p. 48G. 



818 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from 
time to time. 

8 No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States : and no 
person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without 
the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or 
title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State. 

Section 10. 1 1 No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or con- 
federation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money ; emit bills 
of credit ; 'make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment 
of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing 
the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility. 

2 No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any im- 
posts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely 
necessary for executing its inspection laws : and the net produce of all 
duties and imposts laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be 
for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall 
be subject to the revision and control of the Congress. 

3 No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of 
tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any 
agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or 
engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as 
will not admit of delay. 

ARTICLE II 

Section 1. 1 The executive power shall be vested in a President of 
the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term 
of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same 
term, be elected, as follows : 

2 Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof 
may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators 
and representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: 
but no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or 
profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector. 

The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot 
for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the 
same State with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the pex*- 
sons voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they 
shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government 
of the United States, directed to the president of the Senate. The presi- 
dent of the Senate, shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of 
Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be 
counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the 
President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors 
appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and 
have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall 
immediately choose by ballot one of them for President ; and if no person 
have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said house 
shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the Presi- 
dent, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each 
State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a 

x See also the 10th, 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, pp. 489, 490, 491. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 819 

member or members from two thirds of the States, and a majority of 
all the States shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the 
choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of 
votes of the electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should 
remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from 
them by ballot the Vice President. 1 

3 The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and 
the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the 
same throughout the United States. 

4 No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United 
States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible 
to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office 
who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been 
fourteen years a resident within the United States. 

5. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, 
resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said 
office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress 
may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or in- 
ability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer 
shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until 
the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected. 

6 The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a com- 
pensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the 
period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive 
within that period any other emolument from the United States, or 
any of them. 

7 Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the fol- 
lowing oath or affirmation: — "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I 
will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and 
will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution 
of the United States." 

Section 2. 1 The President shall be commander in chief of the army 
and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States, 
when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require 
the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive 
departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective 
offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for 
offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. 

2 He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Sen- 
ate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present concur; 
and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, 
judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, 
whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which 
shall be established by law : but the Congress may by law vest the 
appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the Presi- 
dent alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. 

3 The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may 
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which 
shall expire at the end of their next session. 

Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress infor- 
1 This paragraph superseded by the I2th Amendment, p. 489. 



820 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

mation of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration 
such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on 
extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and 
in case of disagreement between them with respect to the time of ad- 
journment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; 
he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take 
care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the 
officers of the United States. 

Section 4. The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of 
the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and 
conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. 



ARTICLE III 

Section 1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in 
one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may 
from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme 
and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and 
shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation which 
shall not be diminished during their continuance in office. 

Section 2. 1 The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and 
equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, 
and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; — to all 
cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls; — to all 
cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; — to controversies to which 
the United States shall be a party; — to controversies between two or 
more States; — between a State and citizens of another State; 1 — be- 
tween citizens of different States, — between citizens of the same 
State claiming lands under grants of different States, and between a 
State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign States, citizens or sub- 
jects. 

2 In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and con- 
suls, and those in which a State shall be party, the Supreme Court 
shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, 
the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and 
fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress 
shall make. 

3 The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be 
by jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes 
shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, 
the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law 
have directed. 

Section 3. 1 Treason against the United States, shall consist only in 
levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them 
aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the 
testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in 
open court. 

2 The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, 
but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture 
except during the life of the person attainted. 

1 See the 11th Amendment, p. 489. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 821 

ARTICLE IV 

Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the 
public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And 
the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such 
acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. 

Section 2. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privi- 
leges and immunities of citizens in the several States. 

2 A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, 
who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall on 
demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be de- 
livered up to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime. 

3 No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regu- 
lation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be 
delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may 
be due. 1 

Section 3. 1 New States may be admitted by the Congress into this 
Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the juris- 
diction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the junction of 
two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the legisla- 
tures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. 

2 The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful 
rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging 
to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so con- 
strued as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any par- 
ticular State. 

Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this 
Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them 
against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the execu- 
tive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence. 

ARTICLE V 

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it neces- 
sary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution or, on the applica- 
tion of the legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a 
convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be 
valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when rati- 
fied by the legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by con- 
ventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratifi- 
cation may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no amendment 
which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and 
eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth 
section of the first article; and that no State, without its consent, shall 
be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. 

ARTICLE VI 

1 All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adop- 
tion of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States 
under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. 

2 This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall 

1 See the 13th Amendment, p. 490. 



822 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 



be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be 
made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme 
law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, 
anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary not- 
withstanding. 

3 The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the mem- 
bers of the several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial 
officers, both of the United States, and of the several States, shall be 
bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution ; but no religious 
test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust 
under the United States. 

ARTICLE VII 

The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be sufficient for 
the establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the 



Done in Convention by the unanimous consent of the States present the 
seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven 
hundred and eighty-seven, and of the independence of the United States 
of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed 



our names, 



New Hampshire 
John Langdon 
Nicholas Gilman 

Massachusetts 
Nathaniel Gorham 
Rufus King 

Connecticut 
Wm. Saml. Johnson 
Roger Sherman 

New York 
Alexander Hamilton 



New Jersey 
Wil: Livingston 
David Brearley 
Wm. Paterson 
Jona: Dayton 



Go: Washington — 

Presidt. and Deputy from Virginia 

Delaware 
Geo : Read 

Gunning Bedford Jun 
John Dickinson 
Richard Bassett 
Jaco : Broom 

Maryland 
James McHenry 
Dan of St. Thos Jenifer 
Danl. Carroll 

Virginia 
John Blair — 
James Madison Jr. 



Pennsylvania 
B. Franklin 
Thomas Mifflin 
Robt. Morris 
Geo. Clymer 
Thos. Fitzsimons 
Jared Ingersoll 
James Wilson 
Gouv Morris 



North Carolina 
Wm. Blount 
Richd. Dobbs Spaight 
Hu Williamson 

South Carolina 
J. Rutledge 

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney 
Charles Pinckney 
Pierce Butler 

Georgia 
William Few 
Abr Baldwin 

Attest 
William Jackson, Secretary. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 823 

Articles in addition to, and amendment of, the Constitution of the United 
States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the legisla- 
tures of the several States pursuant to the fifth article of the original 
Constitution. 

ARTICLE I 1 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, 
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of 
speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, 
and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. 

ARTICLE II 

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free 
State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be 
infringed. 

ARTICLE III 

No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without 
the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be 
prescribed by law. 

ARTICLE IV 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, 
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be 
violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, sup- 
ported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to 
be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 

ARTICLE V 

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous 
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in 
cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in 
actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be 
subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; 
nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against him- 
self, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of 
law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just 
compensation. 

ARTICLE VI 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a 
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district 
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have 
been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature 
and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against 
him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and 
to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. 

ARTICLE VII 

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed 
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact 
1 The first ten Amendments were adopted in 1791. 



824 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United 
States, than according to the rules cf the common law. 

ARTICLE VIII 

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor 
cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

ARTICLE IX 

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be con- 
strued to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

ARTICLE X 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, 
nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, 
or to the people. 

ARTICLE XI 1 

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend 
to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the 
United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of 
any foreign State. 

ARTICLE XII 3 

The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot 
for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be 
an inhabitant of the same State with themselves ; they shall name in their 
ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person 
voted for as Vice President, and they shall make distinct lists of all per- 
sons voted for as President and of all persons voted for as Vice President, 
and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, 
and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, 
directed to the president of the Senate; — The president of the Senate 
shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open 
all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted ; — The person hav- 
ing the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if 
such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; 
and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the 
highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as 
President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by bal- 
lot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be 
taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote; a 
quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from 
two thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be neces- 
sary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose 
a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before 
the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice President shall 
act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional dis- 
ability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes 
as Vice President shall be the Vice President, if such number be a ma- 

1 Adopted in 1798. a Adopted in 1804. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 825 

jority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a 
majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall 
choose the Vice President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two 
thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole num- 
ber shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible 
to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the 
United States. 

ARTICLE XIII ' 

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a 
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, 
shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their juris- 
diction. 

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by ap- 
propriate legislation. 

ARTICLE XIV 2 

Section 1. All persons born, or naturalized in the United States, and 
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and 
of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law 
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United 
States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or prop- 
erty, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its 
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several 
States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number 
of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the 
right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and 
Vice President of the United States, representatives in Congress, the 
executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the legisla- 
ture thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, be- 
ing twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any 
way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the 
basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which 
the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of 
male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. 

Section 3. No person shall be a senator or representative in Con- 
gress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil 
or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having 
previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the 
United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive 
or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United 
States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, 
or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by 
a vote of two thirds of each House, remove such disability. 

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, au- 
thorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and 
bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not 
be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall as- 
sume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or 

1 Adopted in 1865. a Adopted in 1868. 



826 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emanci- 
pation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be 
held illegal and void. 

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropri- 
ate legislation, the provisions of this article. 

ARTICLE XV 1 

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall 
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account 
of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 

ARTICLE XVI a 

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes 
from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several 
States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. 

ARTICLE XVII 2 

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators 
from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each 
senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the 
qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the 
State legislatures. 

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, 
the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill 
such vacancies : Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower 
the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people 
fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct. 

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or 
term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Con- 
stitution. 

ARTICLE XVIII 3 

Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the 
manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the 
importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United 
States on all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage 
purposes is hereby prohibited. 

Section 2. The Congress and several States shall have concurrent 
power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 

ARTICLE XIX 4 

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied 
or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. 

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legis- 
lation. 

1 Adopted in 1870. 3 Adopted in 1919. 

2 Adopted in 1913. 4 Adopted in 1920. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



A 

Abolition and Abolitionists, 315-320, 

502, 510, 511 
Acadia, 41, 44, 45, 52 
Adams, Henry, quoted, 195, 196 
Adams, John: 

joins the Patriots, 60 

in the Continental Congress, 66 

a peace commissioner, 90 

Vice President, 152 

elected President, 174 

his Presidency, 174-179 

candidate for reelection, 180 
Adams, John Quincy, 211, 246, 250, 

257, 263-267, 319, 389 
Adams, Samuel: 

on the Sugar Act, 55 

his qualities as a leader, 61 

leads in the revolt, 65 

in the Continental Congress, 66 

attempt to arrest, 67 

leadership passes from to Washing- 
ton, 70 
Adamson Law, 773 
Air-brake, 578 
Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty, 41 
Agriculture 

in the colonies, 30, 32, 4S 

in 1783, 95 

improved implements, S40-342 

America the paradise of the 
farmer, 342 

agricultural colleges, 420, 582 

in the fifties, 420 

during the Civil War, 491, 493 

after the Civil War, 542 

Department of, 548 

improved implements, 578 

Rural Credits Law, 772 
Akron, 805 
Alabama: 

admitted to the Union, 227 

secedes from the Union, 429 

restored to the Union, 521 
Alabama, the, 454, 478, 552 
Alamo, the, 361 
Alaska, 525-526, 618 
Alaska- Yukon Exposition, 728 
Albany Plan, 43 
Albuquerque, 355 



Aldrich, Nelson M., 741 

Aldrich-Vreeland Act, 758 

Algeciras Convention, 728 

Alger, Russell A., 675 

Alien Act, 178 

Allen, Ethan, 67 

Almshouses, 314 

Alsace-Lorraine, 691, 793, 799 

Altgeld, John P., 651 

Ambrister, Robert, 248 

Amendments to the Federal Consti- 
tution, 134, 144, 182, 511, 519, 
528, 738, 800 

American Colonization Society, 259 

American Federation of Labor, 601, 
607 

American Tobacco Co., 748 

Americanization, 801 

Americus Vespucius, 5 

Ames, Oakes, 557 

Amiens, treaty of, 190, 193, 199 

Amiens, 791 

Amnesty, 510 

Amnesty Act, 533 

Amusements, 36, 106-10? 

Anarchists, 607 

Anderson, Robert, 444 

Andre, Major, 92 

Andros, Edmund, 51 

Anesthetics, 361 

Annapolis, 126 

Anthony, Susan B., 315 

Anthracite coal, 307 

Anthracite Coal Strike, 706-708 

Antietam, battle, 465 

Anti-federalists, 135 

Anti-masonic Party, 286 

Anti-rent troubles, 362 

Anti-Saloon League, 641 

Anti-Trust Law, see Sherman Anti- 
trust Law 

Appomatox Court House, 482 

Arbuthnot, Alexander, 248 

Archduke of Austria, 795 

Arc-light, 579 

Arctic Exploration, 362, 412, 587, 
728 

Argall, Samuel, 27 

Argonne, the, 792 

Arizona, 624, 748 



829 



830 



INDEX 



Arkansas, 

carved out of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase, 193 

admitted to the Union, 304 

secedes, 448 

restored to the Union, 521 
Arkwright, Richard, 91 
Armada, the, 10 

Armament, Limitation of, 807-809 
Armed Ship Bill, 209, 777 
Armistice, the, 792-794 
Army of the Potomac, 450, 458, 471 
Arnold, Benedict, 67, 71, 88, 92 
Aroostook War, 361 
Arthur, Chester A., 571, 573-574, 584 
Articles of Confederation, 112-114, 

125-126, 128 
Article X, 799 

' ' Association, ' ' the American, 66 
Assumption, 146 
Astor, John Jacob, 229 
Astor Library, 412 
Astoria (Oregon), 229 
Atchison, David, 390 
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, 577, 

624 
Atlanta, battle, 477-478 
Austin, Moses, 324 
Austin, Stephen, 325 
Austria, 386, 797, 795 
Australian Ballot, 641 
Avery, E. McKendrie, quoted, 117 

B 

Bacon, Nathaniel, 29 

Bacon, Robert, 741 

Bad Ax, battle, 35 

Baer, George F., 707 

Balboa, 7 

Ballinger, Richard, 740, 742-743 

Ballinger-Pinchot incident, 742-43 

Balloon, travel by, 412 

Balmaceda, Manuel, 620 

Baltimore, 52, 214, 220, 300, 305, 448, 

581, 728 
Baltimore, Lord, 27 
Baltimore & Ohio, the, 300, 413 
Bancroft, George, 312 
Banks : 

First bank of the United States, 
147-148 

Second Bank of the United States, 
239, 322-323 

State, 289-281, 489 

National, 489, 695 

Postal Savings, 745 

Federal Reserve, 759 

Farm Loans, 772 



Baptists, 35 

Barnard, Henry, 583 

"Barnburners," 360 

Barnes, William, 746 

Barry, John, 91 

Bartholdi's statue, 641 

Bassett, J. S., quoted, 261 

Baton Rouge, 462 

Battles, see names of 

Bayard, Thomas F, 589 

Bean, William, 47 

Beard, Charles A., quoted, 127 

Beauregard, General, 444 

Belgium, 768, 799 

Belknap, W. W., 560-561 

Bell, Alexander Graham, 580 

Bell, John, 410, 411 

Belleau Wood, 796 

Belmont, August, 647, 753 

Bennett, James Gordon, 312, 426 

Bennington, battle, 83 

Benson, Allen L., 775 

Benton, Thomas Hart, 288 

Berkeley, Sir William, 28 

Bering Sea controversy, 618-619, 641 

Berlin Decree, 200, 208, 258 

Bernard, Governor, 50 

Bessemer, Sir Henry, 412, 577 

Biddle, Nicholas, 285 

"Billion Dollar Congress," 628 

Bill of Rights, 110, 144 

Bimetalism, 149, see also Silver ques- 
tion 

Birney, James G., 320 

Bissell, W. S., 644 

"Black Codes," 514 

Black Hawk, 349-350 

Black Hawk Purchase, 349 

Black Friday, 553 

Black, James, 559 

' ' Black Warrior, ' ' the, 412 

Bladensburg, battle, 214 

Blaine, James G. : 

and Conkling, 563, 571, 586 

candidate in 1880, 571 

Secretary of State under Garfield, 

573 
candidate in 1884, 584-586 
declines a nomination, 612 
Secretary of State under Harrison, 

615 
his foreign policy, 617-621 
retires from public life, 636 
quoted, 794 

Blair, Montgomery, 443 

Bland, Richard P., 570 
Bland-Allison Act, 570, 630 
Blockade, 446, 450-451, 467, 491, 769 
Blount, James H., 654 



INDEX 



831 



Blue Laws, 28 

Board of Trade and Plantations, 52 

Bolivar, General, 260 

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 192, 207, 213 

Boone, Daniel, 46 

Borah, W. E., 808 

Border Wars, 40-41 

Borie, Adolph E., 529 

Boston: 

founded, 28 

in 1700, 30 

during the Kevolution, 62-64, 65-68, 
70-71 

its growth, 305, 581 

great fire in, 544 
Boston Massacre, 61 
Bounties, 485, 631 
Bowerman, G. P., quoted, 731 
Bowie, James, 361 
Boxer Rebellion, 692-693 
Braddoek, General, 44 
Bragg, General, 461, 475 
Brandies, Louis, 750 
Brandywine, battle, 83 
Brazil, 8, 260, 796 
Breckenridge, John C, 409, 411 
Breed's Hill, 70 
Brest -Litovsk Treaty, 796 
Bridges, 99 

' ' Bridge of Ships, ' ' 790 
Bright, John, 453 
Brock, General, 212 
Brooklyn, 305, 422 
Brooklyn Bridge, 587 
Brooklyn Heights, battle, 78 
Brooks, Preston, 398 
Brown, Jacob, 213 
Brown, John, 397, 407-408 
Brush, Charles F., 579 
Bryan, William Jennings : 

and the Sherman Silver Law, 645 

and the contract with the bankers, 
647 

and the income tax, 659 

his speech at the convention in Chi- 
cago, 666-668 

his campaign for the Presidency in 
1896, 668-673 

supports treaty with Spain, 686 

in the campaign of 1900, 696-697 

in the campaign of 1908, 723-725 

and the election of Senators, 738 

at the Baltimore Convention, 753 

Secretary of State, 756 

his peace treaties, 764 

resigns, 770 
Bryant, William Cullen, 312, 425 
Buchanan, 399, 400, 402, 431 
Budget Law, 807 



Buell, General, 460, 461 
Buena Vista, battle, 336 
Buffalo, 298, 301, 422, 581, 698 
Buffaloes, 353, 624 
Bulgaria, 797 
"Bull Moose," 754 
Bunker Hill, 70 
Burchard, Samuel, 586 
Burgess, J. W., quoted, 262 
Burgoyne, General, 83-84 
Burke, Edmund, quoted, 48, 61 
Burlington (Iowa), 349 
Burnett Bill, 801 
Burnside, General, 466 
Burr, Aaron, 180-182, 196-197 
Butler, Benjamin F., 522, 587 
Butler, Senator, 398 

O 

Cabinet, the, 152, 187 

Cabot, John, 5 

Cabral, 11 

Cadiz, 12 

Cairnes, J. E., 376 

Calhoun, John C, 209, 271-273, 282, 

338, 381-385, 411 
California: 

visited by Drake, 11 

Russians in, 249 

acquisition of, 331-333, 336 

discovery of gold in, 352 

becomes a State, 355, 378-383 

in the sixties, 539 

and the Japanese, 765 
Calvert, Cecil, 22 
Calvert, George, 28 
Calvert, Leonard, 28 
Camden, battle, 87 
Camden, Lord, 61 
Cameron, Don, 629 
Cameron, Simon, 443 
Campaign contributions, 716, 724-725, 

745 
Canada, 16, 45, 64, 211, 379, 747 
Canals, 297-299 
Canning, George, 250 
Cannon, Joseph G., 714, 743 
' ' Cannonism, " 743 
Cantonments, 790 
Carleton, General, 78, 83 
Carlisle, J. G., 643 
Carnegie, Andrew, 599, 729, 731 
Carnegie Foundation, 730 
Carnegie Institution, 720 
Carolinas, the, 23-24, 52 
"Carpet Baggers," 530 
Carranza, Venustiano, 766, 767 
Cartier, Jacques, 8 



832 



INDEX 



Carver, John, 27 
Cass, Lewis a 359 
Catholics, 22, 35, 64 
Caucus, Congressional, 197, 256-257 
Cedar Creek, battle, 481 
Centennial Exposition, 561 
Center of Population, 418 
Cerro Gordo, battle, 336 
Cervera, Admiral, 683 
Chadds Ford, battle, 83 
Champlain, Samuel, 16 
Champoeg (Oregon), 351 
Chancellorsville, battle, 471-472 
Channing, Edward, quoted, 152 
Chapultepec, 336 
Charity organizations, 734 
Charles I, 19, 27, 28 
Charles II, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28 
Charleston, 23, 29, 30, 87, 422, 641 
Chase, Salmon P., 444, 486, 527 
Chase, Samuel, 66, 195 
Chateau-Thierry, 791, 796 
Chattanooga, battle, 475 
Chautauqua Circle, 731 
Cherokees, the, 303 
Cherry Valley, 87 
Chesapeake, the affair, 202 
Chicago : 

massacre on site of, 225 

its growth, 348, 422-423, 581 

great fire in, 544 

labor disturbances in, 607, 651 

anarchists in, 608 
Chickamauga, battle, 475 
Child labor, 307, 732, 734 
Children 's bureau, 747 
Chili, 620-621 
Chillicothe (Ohio), 166, 223 
China, 691-693, 796 
Chinese Exclusion Act, 580 
Chippewa, battle, 213 
Cincinnati, 165, 232, 305, 348, 423, 581 
Cities, 30, 305, 348, 421-423, 581, 739, 

805 
City-Manager plan, 739 
City of New York, the, 641 
City of Paris, the, 641 
Civil Rights Act, 517, 587 
Civil Service Law, 575, 590, 615, 616 
Civil Service Reform, 574-575, 589 
Civil War: 

events leading up to, 427-450 

and foreign complications, 450-455 

the assembling of the hosts, 456- 
458 

the war in the West in 1862, 459- 
462 

the war in the East in 1862, 462- 
467 



Civil War: 

Emancipation, 467-471 

the war in 1863, 471-476 

the close of the struggle, 476-482 

keeping the ranks filled, 483-486 

keeping money in the war chest, 

487-490 
industrial and social conditions dur- 
ing the war, 490-497 
politics during the war, 497-505 

Claiborne, William, 226 

Clark, Champ, 753 

Clark, George Rogers, 87 

Clark, William, 229 

Clarkson, J. S., 616 

Clay, Henry, 

and the war of 1812, 209 

and the Missouri Compromise, 244 

and the National Road, 254 

and the tariff, 255, 284 

a candidate for President, 257, 286, 

293, 327, 359 
and the portfolio of state, 263 
and President Tyler, 322-323 
and the Mexican War, 327 
and Compromise of 1850, 381-385 
passes away, 388 

Clayton Anti-trust Act, 761 

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 353, 709 

Clermont, the, 221 

Cleveland, Grover: 

elected President, 584-586 

significance of his election, 586 

at the helm, 588-592 

and the tariff, 609-613 

defeated in 1888, 612-613 

and the election of 1892, 637-640 

his second administration, 642-662 

Cleveland, 166, 301, 348, 581, 805 

Clinton, De Witt, 297-298 

Clinton, George, 206 

Clinton, Sir Henry, 86, 87 

Clipper Ships, 415 

Coal, 104, 307 

Coal Trust, 707 

Cohens vs. Virginia, 240 

Cold Harbor, battle, 481 

Colfax, Schuyler, 557 

Collective Bargaining, 706 

Colleges and Universities, 37, 102- 
103, 311, 424, 582-583, 729 

Collins, Charles Wallace, 595 

Colombia, 710-712 

Colonies: 

the first Spanish, 7 

early attempts of France to found, 

8-9 
why England desired, 13 
Virginia, 14-16 



INDEX 



833 



Colonies : 

Canada, 16 

Dutch, 16-17 

Maryland and the Carolinas, 22-24 

the Middle colonies, 24-27 

Georgia, 38 

French and English system com- 
pared, 41-42 

at the end of the colonial period, 
47-50 

their own masters, 51 

their response to the Eevolution, 65 
Colorado, 417, 541 
Columbus, Christopher, 4-5 
Columbus (Ohio), 348, 423 
Commerce : 

and exploration, 3 

with the Orient, 4-5 

new centers of, 6 

and England's colonial policy, 13 

in colonial times, 33, 49-50 

in 1783, 96 

under the Confederation, 117-119 

powers of Congress in respect to, 
133 

depredations upon, 156, 199-201 

interstate defined, 240 

between West and South, 302 

and slavery, 377 

in the fifties, 419-421 

control of interstate, 604-606 

department of, 703 
Commission System, 739 
' ' Common Sense, ' ' 72 
Compromise of 1850, 381-385 
Comstock silver mine, 418 
Concord, battle at, 67 
Confederacy, 429, 456, 490-491 
Confederate States of America, see 

Confederacy 
Confederation, the, 111-114, 134-135, 

138 
Confiscation Act, 468 
Congregational Church, 36 
Congress : 

Continental, 65-67, 69-70 

of the Confederation, 112-114 

of the United States, 129-133 
Conkling, Eoscoe, 563, 571, 586 
Connecticut : 

founding of, 20 

first constitution of, 28, 37 

united with New Haven, 29 

the franchise in, 107 

its constitution, 109 

ratifies the Constitution, 136 

and the war of 1812, 211 
Conscription, 214-215, 484-485, 767, 
788 



Conservation, 719-722, 804-805 

Constantinople, 3 

Constitution of the United States: 
and the Annapolis convention, 126 
the convention of 1787, 126 
the work of the convention, 127-133 
supreme law of the land, 133 
ratification of, 134-138 
Jefferson and Hamilton on, 150- 

152 
amendments, 134, 144, 182, 511, 519, 
528, 737, 800-801 

Constitution, the, 212 

Constitutional Union party, 410 

Contraband trade, 494 

Contract Labor Act, 581 

Continental Congress, 111-112, 134- 
135, 138 

Convention system, 736-737 

Cooley, Thomas M., 605 

Coolidge, Calvin, 806 

Cooke, Jay, 487, 544 

Cooper, James Fenimore, 312 

Cooper, Peter, 300 

Cooper, Thomas, 179 

Copperheads, 500 

Copyright, 641 

Corinth, battle, 460 

Cornstalk, Chief, 91 

Coronado, 7 

Cornwallis, General, 87-89 

Corporations, 592-598, sec also Trusts 

Corporations, bureau of, 703 

Correspondence, Committees of, 62, 65, 
66 

Cortelyou, George B., 716 

Cortereal, 11 

Cortes, 8 

Corwin, Thomas, 337 

Cory don (Indiana), 224 

Cotton, 228-229, 307, 420, 576 

Cotton exposition, 587 

Cotton-gin, 228 

Council of National Defense, 789 

Cowpens, battle, 88 

Cox, Jacob D., 529 

Coxey's Army, 650 

Crawford, W. H., 257 

Credit Mobilier, 556-557 

Creeks, the, 227, 303 

"Crime of 1873," 554 

Crittendon Compromise, 432-433 

Crockett, David, 361 

Croly, Herbert, quoted, 670, 675, 
696 

Cromwell, Oliver, 21, 28 

Croton aqueduct, 641 

Crown Point, 44, 67 

Crystal Palace Exposition, 411 



834 



INDEX 



Cuba, 4, 7, 45, 250, 392, 550, 678, 

680, 686 
Cumberland Gap, 46 
Cummins, Senator, 762-763 
Cunningham claims, 743 
Currency, see Money 
Curtis, George William, 575, 617 



Da Gama, Vasco, 4 

Dakota, 417, 537 

Dallas, 625 

Dalton, battle, 477 

Daniel, Senator, 665 

Dare, Virginia, 12 

Dartmouth College Case, 259 

Davenport (Iowa), 349 

Davis, Jefferson, 381, 430, 445, 471, 

482 
Dawes, Bill, 626 
Day, William E., 675, 684 
Dayton (Ohio), 166, 294, 348, 423, 

739 
Deane, Silas, 66 
Dearborn, Fort, 225 
Dearborn, Henry, 187 
Debs, Eugene V., 651-652, 725, 754, 

806 
Debt, the national, 145-147, 290, 486, 

788 
Debt, imprisonment for, 313 
Decatur, Stephen, 258 
Declaratory Act, 58 
Delaware : 

settlement of, 25 

a separate colony, 91 

first to ratify Constitution, 136 

in the Civil War, 448, 483 
de Lome, Dupuy, 679 
Demarcation, line of, 8 
Democracy, 38, 107, 109, 234, 734-739 
Democratic Party: 

founded by Jefferson, 150-152 

receives its name, 264 

dissension and division in, 408-411 

returns to power, 584-587 

for contests in Presidential elec- 
tions, see Elections, Presidential 
Democratic-Bepublic Party, 150, 154, 

180, 182, 237 
Denver, 417, 624 
Depew, Chauncey M., 612 
Deseret, 357 
Des Moines, 739 
D'Estaing, Count, 91 
Detroit, 88, 115, 212, 302, 348, 423, 

581, 805 
Dewey, Davis E., quoted, 605 



Dewey, George, 680-682, 727 

Dias, Bartholomew, 4 

Dickinson, John, 63, 66, 127 

Diedrich, Admiral von, 682 

Dingley Bill, 675-677 

Dinwiddie, Eobert, 43 

"Direct Democracy," 735-740 

Direct Nominations, 736-737 

Disarmament, 807-809 

District of Columbia, 378, 382 

Dodd, W. E., quoted, 335 

Dole, S. B., 654 

Donelson, Fort, 460 

Dongan, Governor, 51 

Dorr Insurrection, 361 

Douglas, Stephen A., 381, 389-392, 

394, 403-406, 409, 411, 429 
Draft, the, 484, 788 
Drake, Francis, 10, 11 
Dred Scott Decision, 400-402, 409 
Duane, William, 287 
Dubuque (Iowa), 349 
Dudley, W. W., 613 
Duke of York, 25 
Dunmore 's War, 91 
Dunning, W. A., quoted, 499, 522, 529, 

566 
Duquesne, Fort, 43, 45 
Dutch, 16-17, 24 
Dutch West India Co., 27 
Dwight, Timothy, 104 

E 

Early, General, 481 
East India Co., 27, 63 
Eddy, Mary Baker Glover, 549 
Edison, Thomas A., 578-580 
Education : 

in early Massachusetts, 28 

in the several colonies, 36-37 

public schools, 36, 102, 103, 308- 
311, 424-425, 582, 729-730 

colleges and universities, 37, 103, 
311, 424, 582-583, 730 

in 1783, 102-103 

and the Ordinance of 1787, 163, 310 

of slaves, 372 

between 1820 and 1840, 308-311 

in the fifties, 424 

in the seventies and eighties, 582- 
584 

twentieth century, 729-731 
Edward VI, 11 
Eighteenth Amendment, 800 
Eight-hour day, 607, 773 
Elections (Presidential) : 

Washington (1788), 139 

Washington (1792), 152 



INDEX 



835 



Elections (Presidential) : 

John Adams (1796), 174 

Jefferson (1800), 180-182 

Jefferson (1804), 197 

Madison (1808), 206 

Madison (1812), 210 

Monroe (1816), 238 

Monroe (1820), 238 

J. Q. Adams (1824), 256-258 

Jackson (1828), 267-268 

Jackson (1832), 286 

Van Buren (1836), 289 

Wm. H. Harrison (1840), 292-293, 
294 

Polk (1844), 326-327 

Taylor (1848), 359-361 

Pierce (1852), 387 

Buchanan (1856), 399 

Lincoln (1860), 408-411 

Lincoln (1864), 501-503 

Grant (1868), 526-528 

Grant (1872), 557-558 

Hayes (1876), 562-567 

Garfield (1880), 571-572 

Cleveland (1884), 584-587 

Benj. Harrison (1888), 612-613 

Cleveland (1892), 636-640 

McKinley (1896), 662-672 

McKinley (1900), 695-697 

Eoosevelt (1904), 714-717 

Taft (1908), 722-725 

Wilson (1912), 749-755 

Wilson (1916), 774-775 

Harding (1920), 806 
Electoral Commission, 566-567 
Electoral Count Act, 591 
Electricity, 104, 344, 577-580 
Elevators, 423 
Eliot, Charles William, 583 
Eliot, John, 28 
Elizabeth, Queen, 10, 11 
Elizabethtown (New Jersey), 25 
Elkins Act, 717 
Ellsworth, Oliver, 127 
Ely, Richard, quoted, 702 
Emanciation, 471, 510, 511, 548 
Emancipation Proclamation, 467-470, 

471 * 
Embargo Act, 204 
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 312, 386, 408, 

425 
Emigrant Aid Society, 396 
Employers' Liability Laws, 732, 733 
Endicott, John, 27 
"Endless chain," the, 645-646, 647- 

648 
England : 

and John Cabot, 5 

her struggle with Spain, 9-10 



England: 

her motives for colonization, 13-14- 
beginnings of English colonization, 

14-15 
ousts the Dutch, 24 
her rivalry with France, 40-42 
expels French from America, 42-45 
and the treaty of 1763, 53 
her notions of representation, 57-58 
desires conciliation, 85 
her legacy to America, 110 
and the West India trade, 97, 115, 

361 
keeping peace with, 155-159, 200 
and the Oregon country, 230, 329- 

331 
and the Monroe Doctrine, 251, 333, 

657 
and California, 332 
and the Civil War, 451-454, 471 
and the Venezuelan incident, 655- 

657 
her expansion policy, 690-691 
declares war on Germany, 795 

Era of Good Feeling, 238 

Erdman Act, 733 

Ericson, Leif, 5 

Erie Canal, 298, 301 

Erie (Penn.), 43, 115 

Erskine, David, 207 

Espionage laws, 178, 796 

Eutaw Springs, battle, 92 

Evans, George Henry, 345 

Evarts, William M., 522 

"Exposition," Calhoun's, 272 



F 



Factory system, 305-306, 420 

Fair Oaks, battle, 462 

Falaba, the, 795 

Fallen Timbers, battle, 165 

Farming, see Agriculture 

Farm loan banks, 773 

Farragut, Admiral, 461-462, 478 

Farrand, Max, quoted, 390 

Federal Aid Road Act, 772 

Federal Eight Hour Act, 773 

Federal Reserve Act, 759-760 

Federal Reserve Banks, 759-760 

Federal Trade Commission, 760 

Federalists, 135, 149-152, 174, 182, 
195, 197, 237-238 

"Federalist," the, 137 

Fenians, 524 

Fifteenth Amendment, 528, 576 

Filipinos, 689-690, see also Philip- 
pines 

Fillmore, Millard, 360, 385, 388, 398 



836 



INDEX 



Fires, great, 544, 728 

•Fish, Hamilton, 529, 550, 552 

Fisher, S. G., quoted, 105 

Fisheries, 8, 32, 48, 49, 67, 90, 618 

Fisk, James, 553 

Fitch, John, 221 

Fite, E. D., quoted, 493 

Five Power Naval Treaty, 809 

Fleming, W. L., quoted, 535 

Florida : 

visited by Soto, 7 

ceded to England, 45 

ceded to Spain, 90 

ceded to the United States, 247-248 

enters the Union, 350 

secedes, 429 

restored to the Union, 521 
Foch, General Ferdinand, 791, 796 
Food Administration, 787 
Food Control Act, 787 
Foote, Commodore, 460, 461 
Foote, Senator, 272 
Foraker Act, 687 
"Force Bill," 628-629 
Ford, Henry, 795 
Forest protection, 720 
Forts, see names of particular forts 
Four Power Treaty, 809 
Fourteenth Amendment, 517, 519, 595 
' ' Fourteen points, "793 
France: 

early explorations of, 8 

clashes with Spain, 9 

her power in Canada, 16 

extension of her power, 40-42 

driven from America, 42-45 

and the Kevolution, 84-86, 88 

and the West India trade, 97 

revolution in, 153—155 

neutrality toward, 156 

trouble with, 175-177 

and Louisiana, 46, 192-195 

her treatment of our commerce, 200 

and Mexico, 454, 524-525 

and the Great War, 788-792 
Franco-Prussian War, 550, 552 
Franklin, Benjamin: 

quoted, 30, 48, 56 

ami the Albany Plan, 43 

and the Stamp Act, 58 

joins the Patriots, 60 

services in France, 84-85 

a peace commissioner, 90 

in the Convention of 1787, 127, 130, 
134 
Franklin, Sir John, 362, 412 
Franklin, "State" of, 162 
Fredericksburg, battle, 466 
Free Silver, see Silver question 



Free Soil Party, 360 
Freedman's Bureau, 516 
Fremont, J. C, 336, 399, 400, 502 
French Revolution, 153-155 
French and Indian War, 43-45, 53 
Freneau, Philip, 104 
Frick, H. C, 640 
Frobisher, Martin, 11 
Frontier Line, 38, 166 
Fugitive-Slave Laws, 241, 379, 382, 

385, 394 
Fulton, Robert, 221 
Fur trade, 16, 32, 229 

G 

Gadsden Purchase, 415 

"Gag" rule, 319 

Gage, General, 67, 91 

Gage, Lyman J., 675 

Gallatin, Albert, 187, 254, 305 

Galloway, Joseph, 66 

Galveston, 728, 739 

Garfield, James A., 571-573 

Garrison, G. P., quoted, 328, 359 

Garrison, William Lloyd, 316-319, 

394, 511 
Gary system, 730 
Gas, 104, 423 
Gaspee, the, 191 
Gates, Horatio, 87 
General Education Board, 730 
Genet, Edmond, 156 
Geneva Award, 552 
George I, 52 
George II, 52 

George III, 59, 60, 64, 71, 90 
George IV, 259 

George, David Lloyd, 795, 808 
George, Henry, 608-609 
Georgia : 

founded, 38 

in the Revolution, 72, 87 

ratifies the Constitution, 136 

secedes, 429 

restored to the Union, 521, 530 
Germans, 39, 346, 446, 542, 580 
Germantown, 39, 83 
Germany, 618, 691, 712, 728, see also 

under Great War 
Geronimo, 641 

Gettysburg Address, text of, 473 
Gettysburg battle, 472-473 
Ghent, treaty, 216 
Gibbons v. Ogden, 240 
Gilbert, Humphrey, 14 
Oilman, Daniel Coit, 583 
Glavis, L. R., 743 
Goethals, George W., 712 



INDEX 



837 



Gold, 7, 149, 357, 490, 536, 538, 553 

Gold Democrats, 668 

Gold Standard Act, 694 

Gompers, Samuel, 602-608 

Gordy, J. P., quoted, 142, 150, 182, 
262 

Gorgas, William C., 712 

Gorman, A. P., 665, 666, 686 

Gosnold, Bartholomew, 27 

Gould, Jay, 553, 599, 607 

Governors, Conference of, 721-722 

Government : 

in early Virginia, 15-16 

in colonial New England, 18-21 

groundwork of colonial, 37-38 

state constitutions, 109-111 

the Confederation, 111-114 

under the Constitution, 128-133 

centrifugal and centripetal forces, 

123-126 
organization of the Federal, 129- 

132 
power of the Federal, 132-134 
the renascence of democracy, 734- 
739 

Grangers, 547 

Grant, U. S.: 

his career prior to 1860, 459 
at Donelson and Shiloh, 460 
at Vicksburg and Chattanooga, 474- 

475 
made lieutenant-general, 476 
his plan of campaign, 477 
his campaign against Lee, 480-481 
elected President, 527-528, 557 
and reconstruction, 528-532 
his Presidency, 551-562 
and the election of 1876, 562 
and the election of 1880, 571 
and the ' ' spoils system, ' ' 574 

Gray, Eobert, 230 

Great American Desert, 357, 624 

Great Britain, see England 

Great Eastern, the, 412 

Great Lakes, 259, 298, 302 

Great War: 

outbreak of, 767-768 

and American neutrality, 768-769, 

771 
the Lusitania, 769-771 
American preparedness, 772 
and the election of 1916, 774 
Wilson's appeal to the belligerents, 

775-776 
and the German submarine, 776- 

777 
Germany's preposterous scheme, 777 
America enters, 777-786 
America '.s part in, 786-792 



Great War: 

Germany asks for an Armistice, 
792-793 

the Armistice, 794 

the cost of, 794 

Chronology of, 795-797 

peace negotiations, 798-800 
Greeley, Horace, 312, 345, 426, 558 
Green, John Richard, quoted, 57, 60 
"Green Mountain Boys," 83 
Greenback partv. 549, 587 
Greenbacks, 488,' 527, 553-555 
Greene, F. V., quoted, 70, 81 
Greene, Nathanael, 88 
Greenville, George, 55-56 
Greenville, Treaty of, 165 
Greshan, Walter Q., 612, 643 
Guadalupe Hidalgo, 338 
Guerriere, the, 212 
Guilford Court House, 92 



II 



Habeas Corpus, 499, 548 
Hague, Miss P. A., quoted, 491 
Hague Peace Conference, 727 
Haines, H. S., quoted, 546 
Haiti, 4, 7, 258, 765, 797 
Halleck, General, 460, 461, 465 
Hamilton, Alexander, 127, 137, 141, 
145-149, 154, 158, 174, 181, 196- 
197 
Hammond, J. H., 370, 372 
Hampton Eoads Conference, 503 
Hancock, John, 67 
Hancock, Winfield S., 572 
Hanna, Marcus A., 663-665, 670, 675, 

696 
Harding, Warren G., 806-809 
Hargreaves, James, 91 
Harlan, Justice, 662, 749 
Harmon, Judson, 753 
Harper's Ferry (Virginia), 407 
Harris, William Torrey, 583 
Harrisburg (Penn.), 39 
Harrison, Benjamin: 

nominated for President, 612 

elected, 613 

his career, 614 

and the Federal patronage, 615-617 

politics and legislation during his 
administration, 626-636 

nominated and defeated in 1892, 
636-640 
Harrison, William Henry, 209, 224, 

289, 293-294, 321 
Harrod, James, 46 
Hartford, 28, 305 
Hartford Convention, 215, 237 



838 



INDEX 



Harvard College, 37 

Havana, 7, 9, 679 

Havemeyer, H. 0., 660 

Hawaii, 653-655 

Hawkins, John, 10, 374 

Haworth, P. L., quoted, 528, 686 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 312 

Hay, John, 675, 692, 711 

Hay-Herran Treaty, 710 

Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, 709 

Hayes, Rutherford B., 563-567, 568- 

571, 709 
Haymarket Affair, 607-608 
Hayne, Robert, 266, 272 
Hearst, William R,, 715 
Heating, 34, 104, 423 
Helper, Hinton R., 408 
Henderson, G. F. R., quoted, 463 
Hendricks, Thomas H., 591 
Henry, Patrick, 56, 62, 66, 136 
Henry VII, 5, 11 
Henry VIII, 11 
Henry the Navigator, 11 
Henry, Fort, 460 
Hepburn Act, 718 
Herbert, H. A., 644 
Hessians, 78 
Hewitt, A. S., 609 
High schools, 424, 582, 729 
Hill, David B., 637, 665, 668 
Hoar, E. Rockwood, 529 
Hoar, Senator G. F., 561, 635 
Hobson, Richard, 683 
Hoe printing press, 426 
Holland, 16, 24 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 312, 425 
Holy Alliance, 250 
Homestead Act, 493, 541-542 
Homestead Affair, 639 
Hood, General, 477 
Hooker, Thomas, 20 
Hooker, General, 466, 471-472 
Hoover, Herbert C, 787 
Hosmer, J. K., quoted, 464 
Hospitals, 734 
House of Representatives (Federal), 

129-131, 627, 743-744 
Houston, Sam, 325 
Howe, Admiral Lord, 78 
Howe, Elias, 343 
Howe, Sir William, 71, 78-80, 82-83, 

86 
Hudson Bay Co., 29 
Huerta, Victoriana, 766 
Hughes, Charles E., 736, 774, 775, 

808-809 
Huguenots, 9, 11 
Hull, William, 212 
Hulseman letter, 386-387 



Hungary, 386, 387 
"Hunkers," 362 
Hunting, 106 
Huntington, C. P., 604 
Hutchinson, Anne, 28 
Hutchinson, Thomas, 62 



Idaho, 537, 622 

Illinois: 

admitted to the Union, 225 
slavery question in, 225 
its rapid growth, 225, 418 
during the Civil War, 483, 493 

Illinois Central Railroad, the, 414 

Immigration : 

Scotch, Irish and Germans, 39-40 

in the early days, 94 

between 1800 and 1820, 222-223 

in the forties, 346-347 

at the close of the Civil War, 542 

between 1870 and 1890, 580 

restriction of, 580-581, 802 

Bureau of, 728 

Burnett bill, 801 

Impeachment, 195, 196, 521-523 

' ' Impending Crisis, ' ' 408 

Impressment, 157, 201-202, 208, 217 

Income tax, 487, 556, 659, 661, 747, 
758 

Independence : 

movement for, 71—73, 91 

Independents, 18 

Independent Treasury, 292, 331 

India, 4, 587 

Indiana : 

rapid settlement of, 224 
admitted to the Union, 224 
its public school system, 310 
and the Civil War, 483, 485, 492 

Indians: 

in Pennsylvania, 26 

King Philip 's War, 29 

the Pequot War, 28 

in the Ohio valley, 46 

Dongan Treaty, 51 

and the Ordinance of 1787, 163 

in the Northwest Territory, 165-166 

in Indiana and Illinois, 224-225 

in Iowa and Wisconsin, 349 

in Florida, 247, 350 

removal of, 302-304 

and railroad building, 540, 541 

drawing the lines around, 625 

a liberal policy toward, 626 

Indian Territory, 361, 625 

Indianapolis, 296, 423 

Individualism, 124 



INDEX 



839 



Industrial Revolution, the, 97, 228, 

306, 420 
Industry : 

in colonial times, 31—32 

household, 35, 97, 226 

industrial revolution, 97, 228, 305, 
420 

industrial independence, 235-236 

in the fifties, 420 

during the Civil War, 490-493 

between 1870 and 1890, 575-580 

industrial corporations, see Trusts 

and labor organizations, 314, 599- 
602 

Kansas Industrial Court, 804 
Ingersoll, Robert G., 563, 639 
Initiative and Eeferendum, 735-736 
Injunctions, 652 
' ' Insurgents, ' ' 742 
Interior, department of, 362 
Internal Improvements, 254, 259, 265 
Internal revenue tax, 159, 189, 487, 556 
Interstate Commerce Act, 604-606, 

718, 745, 803 
Interstate Commerce Commission, 604, 

718, 745, 802 
"Intolerable Acts," the, 64 
Inventions, 340-344, 420, 492, 577- 

580 
Iowa: 

carved out of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase, 193 

its early history, 348-349 

its rapid growth, 418 

and the Civil War, 483 
Ireland, 346 

Irish, 446, 524, 542, 580 
Iron, 307, 492, 576 
Iroquois, 52 
Irrigation, 721, 805 
Island No. 10, battle, 461 
Italy, 619, 795, 809 
Itata incident, 620 



Jackson, Andrew: 

at the battle of New Orleans, 216 
and the Indians, 216, 247-248, 302- 

303 
governor of Florida, 227 
his characteristics, 261-263 
his campaign against Adams, 263- 

267 
elected President, 268 
and the "spoils system," 268-270 
and nullification, 282-284 
and the Bank, 284-286, 287 
reelected, 286 



Jackson, Andrew: 

and Texas, 326 

his "Kitchen Cabinet," 361 
Jackson, Fort, 462 
Jackson (Michigan), 395 
Jackson, "Stonewall," 463-464, 466, 

471 
Jamaica, 28 
James I, 14, 27 
James II, 51 
Jamestown, 14-15 
Jamestown Exposition, 728 
Japan, 412, 765, 795, 809 
Jay, John, 66, 137, 142, 157, 174 
Jay's treaty, 157-159, 175, 190 
Jefferson, Thomas : 

quoted, 109, 124 

and George III, 60 

joins the Patriots, 60 

and the Committees of Correspon- 
dence, 62 

and the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, 73 

and religious liberty, 101 

and the decimal currency, 119 

his estimate of Washington, 140 

Secretary of State, 141 

and the bank, 148 

and Hamilton contrasted, 150-152 

and the French Revolution, 154 

and commercial restrictions, 157 

elected President, 180-182 

his princples and measures, 183-190 

puts down the pirates, 190 

purchases Louisiana, l9l-195 

his reelection, 197 

his policy of neutrality, 199-201 

his retirement, 205 

his teachings, 206 

and the Oregon question, 229 

and the Federal judiciary, 241 

and slavery, 242, 374 

and Missouri Compromise, 246 

and the Monroe Doctrine, 251, 254 
Jersey City, 422 
Jesuits, 11, 351 
Joffre, General, 788 
Johnson, Andrew, 498, 502, 508-513, 

516, 519, 521, 524, 527 
Johnson, Hiram, 754 
Johnston, Joseph E., 463, 477, 482 
Johnston, Albert Sidney, 460 
Johnstown flood, 641 
Jones Water-Power Bill, 804-805 
Joint Committee on the Conduct of 

the War, 498 
Joliet, 40 

Jones, John Paul, 86 
Judiciary Act, 141, 189 



840 



INDEX 



Justice, Department of, 549 
Jutland, battle, 795 

K 

Kalakua, King, 654 
Kansas : 

explored by Coronado, 7 

made a Territory, 390 

struggle in, 395-397, 402-403 

admitted to the Union, 417 

exodus of negroes to, 587 

and prohibition, 587 

its Industrial Court, 804 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 390-392, 397 
Kaskaskia, 87 
Kearney, Dennis, 580 
Kearney, Stephen, 336 
Kearsarge, the, 478 
Kenesaw Mountain, battle, 477 
Kentucky : 

settlement of, 46-47 

route to, 99 

becomes a State, 161 

in the Civil War, 448, 449, 460, 483 
Kentucky Resolutions, 180 
Key, Francis Scott, 214 
King George's War, 41 
King, Rufus, 127 
King William 's War, 41 
King's Mountain, battle, 87 
"Kitchen Cabinet," the, 361 
Knights of Labor, 600, 606 
Know-nothing party, 398-399 
Knox, Henry, 141 
Knox, Philander C, 704, 705, 740 
Kosciuszko, 91 
Kossuth, Louis, 387 
Ku-Klux-Klan, 527, 531-532 



Labor, bureau of, 587 

Labor, Department of, 747 

Labor organizations: 

the trade unions movement, 314 
just after the Civil War, 545 
captains of labor, 599 
knights of labor, 600-601 
American Federation of Labor, 

601-602 
and collective bargaining, 706 

Lafayette, General, 88, 260 

La Follette, R. M., 737, 742, 750, 
752 

Laissez-faire, 594 

Lamont, D. S., 643 

Lancaster (Penn.), 39 

Land, see Public Lands 



Land Grant Act, 582 

Land grants to railroads, 414-415 

Lansdowne, Lord, 796 

Lansing, Robert, 770 

LaSalle, Robert, 40 

Latane, J. H., quoted, 657, 685 

Lauck, W. Jett, quoted, 649 

Laudonniere, 11 

Lawrence (Kansas), 397 

League of Nations, 799, 806 

Leavenworth, Fort, 336 

Lecompton Constitution, 402-403 

Lee, General Charles, 86 

Lee, Richard Henry, 66, 72 

Lee, Robert E., 407, 463, 465-466, 
471-473, 480-482, 510 

Legal Tender Act, 488 

Legal Tender Cases, 549 

Leisler 's Rebellion, 51 

Lenine, 796 

Lesseps, Ferdinand de, 709 

Lewis, Meriwether, 229 

Lexington, battle at, 67 

Lexington (Kentucky), 46 

Liberal Republicans, 558 

"Liberator," the, 316 

Liberia, 259 

Liberty bonds, 788 

Liberty, love of, 107 

Liberty party, 320, 360 

Libraries, 103, 412, 730 

Library of Congress, 189, 259, 411, 
727 

Life: 

in the colonies, 34-36 

every day in 1783, 104-107 

on the frontier, 231-233 

in the Middle West, 225-226, 419 

during the Civil War, 491, 494-495 

Liliuokalani, Queen, 654 

Limitation of Armament, 807-809 

Lincoln, Abraham: 
his cabinet, 443 
in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 

403-407 
elected President, 411 
meaning of his election, 427 
on the subject of compromise, 433 
Ins first inaugural, 434-442 
meaning of inaugural, 446 
calls for troops, 445-447 
and the Civil War, 458, 465, 473, 

476 
and the Emancipation Proclama- 
tion, 467-469 
his responsibility, 497 
and arbitrary arrests, 449-501 
reelected, 502-503 
his overtures for peace, 503 



INDEX 



841 



Lincoln, Abraham : 

his second inaugural, 504 

his policy of reconstruction, 506- 

507 
his death, 508 

Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 403-407 

Lincoln, Levi, 187 

Lingley, C. R., quoted, 585, 653 

Literature, 103-104, 311-312, 425, 
583-585 

Little Belt, the, 209 

Little Giant, see Douglas, S. A. 

Livingston, Robert, 193 

Locke's Grand Model, 29 

Locomotive, the, 300, 578 

Lodge, Henry Cabot, 160, 628, 714 

"Log-cabin" campaign, 293 

Long, C. W., 361 

Long Island, battle, 78 

Longfellow, H. W., 312, 425 

Lords of Trade, 29 

Los Angeles, 805 

Louis XIV, 28, 40, 41 

Louis XVI, 154 

Louisburg, 45, 52 

Louisiana, 40, 45, 192-195, 216 

Louisiana (State) : 

early government of, 226 

admitted to the Union, 227 

secedes, 429 

restored to the Union, 521 

in reconstruction days, 531 

Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 728 

Louisville, 232, 348, 423 

Lovejoy, Elijah, 317 

Lowell, 305, 306, 422 

Lowell, J. R., 312, 362, 385, 425, 494 

Loyalists, 60, 68, 90, 115 

Lundy, Benjamin, 259 

Lundy 's Lane, battle, 213 

Lusitania, the, 769-771 

Lusson, Saint, 40 

Lutherans, 35 

Lynn, 305 

Lyon, Matthew, 179 

Lyon, Nathaniel, 449 

M 
McClellan, George B., 448-450, 462, 

464-466, 501-503 
McCormick, Cyrus, 341, 492 
McCulloch v. Maryland, 239 
McDonough, Thomas, 213 
McDowell, General, 449, 464 
McHenry, Fort, 214 
McKay sewing machine, 492 
McKinley, William: 

and the tariff of 1890, 631-632 

and Hanna, 663-664 



McKinley, William: 

nominated for President, 664 

in the Campaign of 1896, 669 

elected President, 671 

a popular President, 674 

bringing the tariff to the front, 
675-676 

and the War with Spain, 678, 681- 
682 

and the Philippines, 684-686 

and the Gold-Standard Act, 694 

his death, 698 
McKinley Tariff, 631-632, 635 
McLaughlin, A. C, quoted, 119, 133 
McLemore Resolution, 771 
McMaster, J. B., quoted, 101, 103, 114, 

290 
Madison, James, 127, 137, 143, 180, 

187, 206, 209-210, 237 
Mafia, the, 619-620 
Magazines, 731 
Magellan 's voyage, 11 
Maine, 29, 243, 324, 361, 559 
Maine, the, 592, 679 
Manassas, battles, 449, 465 
"Manifest destiny," 321, 327 
Manila, 681-682 
Mann-Elkins Act, 745-746 
Mann, Horace, 309, 361, 384 
Manufacturing : 

in the colonial period, 32, 48 

the Industrial Revolution, 97, 228, 
305, 420 

household industry, 98 

in New England, 236 

and the tariff, 236-237, 543 

in the South, 576-577 
Marbury v. Madison, 240 
Marcy, W. L., 269 
Marietta (Ohio), 165 
Marion, Francis, 87 
Markham, Edwin, quoted, 508 
Marne, the, 795 
Marquette, James, 40 
Marshall, John, 135, 138, 239-241 
Martineau, Harriet, quoted, 219, 316 
Maryland : 

settlement by, 22-23 

Westward Movement in, 39 

during the Revolution, 65 

and the western lands, 112 

ratifies the Constitution, 136 

in the War of 1812, 214 

in the Civil War, 448, 465, 472, 483 
Mary, Queen of England, 11 
Mason and Dixon Line, 26 
Massachusetts: 

founding of, 19 

expansion of, 20 



842 



INDEX 



Massachusetts : 

becomes a royal province, 51 

during the Revolution, 56, 61-68, 69 

and slavery, 94 

Shays 's Rebellion in, 121 

ratifies the Constitution, 136 

and the War of 1812, 211 

in the Civil War, 447, 483 

and the Australian Ballot, 641 

and mothers' pensions, 733 
Matches, 104, 423 
Maximilian, 454, 525 
Mayflower, 18 

Mayflower Compact (text), 18-19 
Meade, General, 473 
Meat Inspection Act, 719 
Mecklenburg declaration, 91 
Medical Schools, 103 
Memphis, 461 
Menendez, 11 

Merchant Marine, 415-416, 773 
Merritt, Wesley, 682 
Message, the President's, 188 
Methodists, 52, 362 
Mexico, 260, 325, 332-339, 524-525, 

766-777 
Michigan : 

and the War of 1812, 212-213 

its rapid growth, 302, 418 

becomes a State, 302 

Republican party in, 395 

in the Civil War, 483 
Milan Decree, 201, 259 
Miles, General, 641, 683 
Miller, W. H. H., 615 
Milligan Case, 548-549 
Mills Bill, 610-611 
Mills, Roger Q., 611, 635 
Milwaukee, 423, 581 
Minims, Fort, 259 
Mines, bureau of, 745 
Minimum Wage Laws, 732-733 
Minneapolis, 423, 581 
Minnesota: 

carved (in part) out of Louisiana 
Purchase, 193 

its remarkable growth, 416 

enters the Union, 417 

and the Civil War, 483 
Minuit, Peter, 27 
Missions, 351 
Mississippi : 

erected into a Territory, 162 

admitted to the Union, 227 

secedes, 429 

restored to the Union, 530 
Missouri : 

carved out of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase, 193 



Missouri : 

early settlement of, 230-231 

admitted as a State, 245 

in the Civil War, 448, 449, 483 
Missouri Compromise, 242-246, 388- 

392 401 
Mitchell' John, 706-708 
Mobile, 478 
Modoc Indians, 549 
Molasses Act, 50, 54 
Molino del Rey, battle, 336 
Money and Monetary Matters: 

Colonial money, 34 

in the days of the Confederation, 
119-121 

paper, 120-121, 488 

the silver question, 148-149, 553, 
570, 629-631, 643-648, 662-673, 
693-696 

bank currency, 489, 693-695, 758- 
760 

Emergency currency, 759 

Federal Reserve notes, 760 
Monitor and the Merrimac, 462 
Monmouth, battle, 86 
Monopoly, see Trusts 
Monroe, James, 193, 206, 238, 249, 

250-256 
Monroe Doctrine, 249-254, 333, 454, 

524, 655-656, 712-714 
Montana, 193, 536, 537, 622 
Montcalm, General, 45 
Monterey (California), 355 
Monterey, battle, 336 
Montgomery (Alabama), 430 
Montgomery, Richard, 71 
Morgan-Guggenheim Syndicate, 743 
Morgan, J. P., 647 
Morgan, William, 286 
Mormons, 356, 622 
Morrill Tariff Bill, 486 
Morse, J. T., quoted, 319 
Morse, S. F. B., 344, 361 
Mortin, J. S., 644 
Morris, Gouverneur, 119, 127 
Morristown (New Jersey), 82 
Moultrie, William, 87 
Mountain Meadows Massacre, 412 
' ' Mugwumps, ' ' 585 
Municipal reform, 739 
Munn v. Illinois, 548 
Murdock, Victor, 742 
Murfreesboro, battle, 461 
Murphy, Charles F., 753 

N 

Nantes, Edict of, 51 
Napoleon III, 454, 525 






INDEX 



843 



Napoleon Bonaparte, see Bonaparte 

Narvaez, 11 

Nashville, 232, 477 

Nashville Convention, 411 

Natchez, 41, 227 

' ' Nation, ' ' quoted, 703 

Nationality, growth of, 237-241 

National Army, 789 

National Banking Act, 489 

National Conventions, 257, 286 

National Defence Act, 772 

National Bepublicans, 264 

National Eoad, 220, 254, 296 

Native- American party, 398 

Naturalization, 178, 189 

Nauvoo (Illinois), 356 

Navigation Acts, 28, 50 

Navy, American, 86, 91, 177, 591-592, 

728, 772, 786-787, 809 
Navy Department Created, 177 
Nebraska, 193, 390, 540, 624 
Nebraska Country, 390 
Negroes (free) 365-367, 511, 514, 
535, 549, 576-577, 628, see also 
Slavery 
Nepotism, 616 
Neutrality, 155-159, 199-205, 208, 

550, 768-769 
Nevada, 418, 539 
New Amsterdam, 17 
Newark, 305, 422, 581 
New Bedford, 305 
Newberry, Truman, 740 
Newburg incident, 117 
New England, 17-22, 103, 215, 211, 

236, 309 
New England Confederation, 22 
New England, Council for, 27 
New Hampshire, 20, 28, 52, 126, 

137 
New Harmony, 315 
New Haven, 29, 305, 422 
New Jersey: 

settlement of, 25 

in the Revolution, 79-82, 86 

and the Constitution, 130, 136 

in the Civil War, 483 

and manufacturing, 581 
New London (Conn.), 92 
New Mexico : 

visited by Coronado, 7 

a province of importance, 355 

acquisition of, 336-339 

made a territory, 382 

and the Compromise of 1850, 380- 
382 

admitted to the Union, 748 
"New Nationalism," 746 
New Netherlands, 16-17, 24 



New Orleans, 41, 191, 216, 226-227, 

305, 422, 462, 581, 619 
New York (colony and State) : 
becomes an English colony, 24-25 
Tories in, 68 

its claims in the Ohio Country, 93 
its tariff regulations, 118 
and the Federal Constitution, 137 
development of western, 219, 222, 

301 
public schools in, 309 
in the election of 1884, 586 
New York City: 

during the Revolution, 63, 78 
the first capital of the nation, 139 
an "emporium of Commerce," 298 
its growth, 30, 305, 422, 581 
during the Civil War, 483, 495 
Tweed Ring in, 556 
New York Central, the, 413 
' ' New York Herald, ' ' 312, 426 
' ' New York Sun, ' ' 312 
' ' New York Times, ' ' 426, 446, 485 
"New York Tribune," 312, 426, 672 
"New York World," quoted, 647 
Newspapers, 27, 92, 103, 312, 425-426, 

731 
Niagara, Fort, 44 
Nicaragua, 765 
Nineteenth Amendment, 801 
Nominations, direct, 736-737 
Non-importation Act, 203 
Non-importation Agreement, 59 
Non-intercourse Act, 205, 207 
Norfolk (Virginia), 30 
Normal Schools, 424, 582 
Norris, George W., 742, 744 
North, the: 

and party lines, 175 
balanced against the South, 245 
and the Wilmot Proviso, 358-359 
and the Compromise of 1850, 385- 

386 
in the election of 1856, 398-390 
in the election of 1860, 411 
and the secession movement, 432 
its strength compared with the 

South, 456 
conditions in during the Civil War, 

484, 492-495 
prosperity in after Civil War, 536 
' ' North American Review, ' ' the, 259 
North Carolina : 

settlement of, 23-24 

in the Revolution, 72, 87-88, 91 

and the Federal Constitution, 137, 

145 
and the "State" of Franklin, 162 
secedes, 448 



844 



INDEX 



North Carolina: 

restored to the Union, 521 
North Dakota, 193, 622 
North, Lord, 85, 91 
"Northern Confederacy," the, 195- 

196 
Northern Pacific Railroad, 541, 577, 

622 
Northern Securities Co., 704-705 
Northwest Territory, 64, 87, 162, 166, 

223-225 
Nova Scotia, 41 
Nullification, 180, 215, 271-274 

O 

Oberholtzer, E. P., quoted, 514, 538 

Ocala platform, 641 

Ogden (Utah), 540 

Ogg, F. A., quoted, 702 

Ohio: 

early settlement of, 164-166 

its growth, 225, 305 

attains statehood, 223 

in the fifties, 347 

and the "Toledo War," 361 

in the Civil War, 483, 485 

Oklahoma, 624-625, 748 

Olney, Eichard, 643, 656 

Omaha, 727 

"Open Door," the, 692-693 

Orders in Council, 200, 204, 207, 208 

Ordinance of 1787, 163-164, 225 

Oregon : 

claims to, 229-230 

and the election of 1844, 327 

settlement and acquisition of, 327, 

329-331 
made a Territory, 351 
admitted to the Union, 418 
a laboratory of political experi- 
ments, 737 

Oregon, the, 709 

Oregon Trail, 353 

Orient, the, 3-5 

Oriskany, battle, 83 

Orleans, Territory of, 226 

Osceola, 350 

Ostend Manifesto, 392 

Oswego, 115 

Otis, James, 54 

Owen-Glass Federal Reserve Act, 759- 
760 

Owen, Robert, 314 



Paine, Thomas, 72 
Pakenham, Edward, 216 



Palmer, John M., 668 
Palo Alto, battle, 336 
Panama Canal, 708-712 
Panama Mission, 265-266 
Panama Republic, 710-712 
Pan-American Exposition, 728 
Panics, 

of 1837, 291-292 

of 1857, 412 

of 1873, 544 

of 1893, 648-651 
Parcel-Post, 747 
Paris, treaties of 1763, 45 
Parker, Alton B., 715, 717 
Parker, Theodore, 379, 384 
Parkman, Francis, 53, 312 
Parliament, the English, 21, 28, 38, 

50, 57, 64, 72, 85 
Parties, Political: 

first alignment, 135 

formation of, 149 

a government of, 152 

see also names of the several par- 
ties 
Patents, 343, 362, 420 
Paterson, William, 127 
Patriots, 60-62, 68 
Patrons of Husbandry, 547 
Patroons, 32 

Paxson, F. L., quoted, 537 
Payne, Sereno E., 741 
Payne-Aldrich Tariff, 741-742, 746 
Peabody, George, 412 
Peace Treaties, 764 
Peary, Robert E., 728 
Peck, H. T., quoted, 616 
Peck, J. M., quoted, 232-233 
Pemberton, General, 474 
Pendleton, G. H., 527 
Peninsular Campaign, 464 
Penn, William, 25-27 
Penn Charter School, 37 
Pennsylvania : 

the founding of, 25-27 

expansion of, 39-40 

Tories in, 68 

and slavery, 94 

its legislature, 110 

ratifies the constitution, 136 

violence in, 159-160 

manufactures in, 307, 581 

in the Civil War, 472-473, 483, 485 
Pennsylvania Canal, 299 
Penrose, Boies, 714, 752 
Pensions, 628, 733 
Pepperell, Sir William, 52 
Pequot War, 28 
Pershing, General, 788, 797 
Perry, Matthew C, 412 



INDEX 



845 



Perry, Oliver Hazard, 213 

Perryville, battle, 461 

Petition of Eight, 27 

Petition, right of, 319, 735 

Petersburg, battle, 481 

Petroleum, 412 

Philip II, 10 

Philippines, the, 681-682, 684-686, 
688-690, 695 

Phillips, U. B., quoted, 371, 373 

Phillips, Wendell, 317-318 

Phipps, Sir William, 51 

Phonograph, the, 579 

Pickering, John, 196 

Pike, Zebulon, 258, 259 

Pike's Peak, 417 

Pilgrims, 18-19, 27 

Pillow, Fort, 461 

Pinchot, Gifford, 720, 742, 750 

Pinckney, C. C, 176, 180,- 197, 
207 

Pinkerton men, 640 

Pinkney, William, 209 

Pirates, of the Mediterranean, 191 

Pitt, William, 45, 58, 61 

Pittsburgh, 99, 232, 348, 422, 545, 
581 

Pizarro, 8 

Piatt, Senator O. H., 631, 634 

Piatt, Senator Thomas C, 573 

Piatt Amendment, 686-687 

Plattsburg, 213 

Plow, the, 96, 340, 518 

Plymouth Colony, 19, 27 

Plymouth Co. incorporated, 27 

Political parties, see names of par- 
ties 

"Political Prisoners," 499 

Polk, James K., 327, 329-337, 352, 
358 

Polygamy, 587, 622, 641 

Ponce de Leon, 7 

Pontiac, 46 

Pool, the, 597 

"Poor Whites," 101, 364 

Pope Benedict, 796 

Pope, General, 465 

Popham, Lord, 27 

Population: 

of the colonies, 30, 40, 48 
of the United States, 93, 231, 418, 
576, 805 

Populists, 638, 640, 668 

Port Hudson, 474 

Porto Eico, 7, 683, 687-688 

Port Eoyal, 27, 51 

Portsmouth Treaty, 728 

Portugal, 4, 8, 795 

Postal Savings-banks, 745 



Post office and postal matters, 33, 69, 
100, 319, 361, 412, 548, 549, 587, 
731, 745, 747 

Powderly, Terrence V., 601, 606 

Preemption Act, 323, 345 

Preparedness, 210, 445, 772 

Presbyterians, 35, 411 

President, of the United States, 131, 
see also under Elections, Presi- 
dential 

Presidential succession, 258 

Presidential Succession Act, 591 

Primaries, direct, 736-737 

Princeton, battle, 81 

Profiteering, 493-494 

"Progress and Poverty," 608 

Progressive Era, 729-763 

Progressive Party, 754-755, 774 

Progressives, 742, 749-752 

Prohibition, 313, 411, 558, 559, 587, 
800-801 

Prohibition Party, 559 

Prohibitory Act, 71 

Propaganda, 318, 453, 670, 772 

Protection, 144, 236-237. See also 
Tariff 

Protestantism, 11, 17 

Providence, 305, 422 

"Publicity," 703-704 

Public Lands, 112, 125, 218-219, 290, 
323, 345, 414-416, 539, 541, 582 

Public Schools, 36, 102, 309-311, 424- 
425, 582, 730 

Pullman, George M., 424 

Pullman strike, 651 

Pure Food Bill, 719 

Puritans, 17-21, 36, 101 

Putnam, Israel, 78 

Putnam, Eufus, 164 

Q 

Quakers, 25-26, 35, 105 
Quay, Matthew, 616, 660 
Quebec, 16, 45, 71 
Quebec Act, 64 
Queen Anne 's War, 41 
"Quids," the, 259 
Quincy, Josiah, 187, 215 
' ' Quincy method, ' ' the, 583 

R 

Railroads : 

early, 299-301 

the trunk lines, 413-415, 419 

transcontinental, 415, 539-541, 577, 

622 
and the Civil War, 456, 498 



846 



INDEX 



Railroads: 

regulation of, 546-548, 603-605, 
717-719, 745-746, 802-803 

and labor disturbances, 545, 606, 
651-653, 718-719, 745-746, 803- 
804 

and the A damson Law, 773 

Transportation Act of 1920, 802 
Eailroad Labor Board, 802 
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 12, 14, 27 
Randolph, Edward, 142 
Randolph, John, 259, 267 
Raymond, Henry Jarvis, 426 
Reading (Penn.), 422 
Reagan Bill, 604 

Reaper, the, 96, 341-342, 492, 578 
Recall, the, 735-736 
Reciprocity, 631, 677, 747 
Reclamation, 720, 805 
Reconstruction : 

Lincoln's policy of, 506-508 

Johnson 's efforts at, 508-513 

Congressional plan of, 513-521 

Grant and, 528-533 

Hayes and, 569-570 

after the Great War, 800-806 
Reconstruction Act, 520, 527 
Reconstruction Committee, 518 
Red Cross Society, 496, 734, 789 
Reed, Thomas B., 627, 628, 633, 636, 

664 
Reforms, 312-315, 731-739, 763, 800 
Reid, Whitelaw, 593, 616, 684 
Religion : 

religious freedom, 20, 22, 101-102 

in the several colonies, 35-36 

in 1783, 101-302 

and the ordinance of 1787, 163 

in slavedom, 372 
Republican Party : 

the beginning of, 394-395 

and sectionalism, 400 

what its success meant to the South, 
427 

and the negro vote, 528 

holds its power by a slender thread, 
572 

and the election of 1884, 586 

split by the Progressive movement, 
750-755 

for contests in Presidential elec- 
tions see Elections 
Republicans, see Democratic-Republi- 
can Party 
Resaca de la Palma, battle, 336 
Restraining Act, the, 67 
Revolution, War of : 

events leading to, 53-67 

the first blows, 67-71 



Revolution, War of: 

the Declaration of Independence, 

71-78 
the struggle, 78-88 
the victory and the peace, 88-90 

Rhode Island: 
founding of, 20 
united with Providence, 28 
Colonial government, 37 
its constitution, 109 
and paper money, 120 
and the Constitution, 126, 137, 145 
and the War of 1812, 211 
Dorr's Rebellion in, 361-362 

Rhodes, J. 1\, quoted, 365, 567 

Richmond, 92, 422, 449, 464, 481 

Riley, General, 355 

Ripon (Wisconsin), 395 

Rives, G. L., quoted, 333 

Roads, 33, 98-99, 221, 254, 772 

Robertson, W. H., 573 

Rochester, 301, 423 

Rockefeller Institute, 734 

Rockefeller, John D., 598, 599, 730, 
734 

Roosevelt, Theodore: 

candidate for 'mayor, 609 

and Civil Service reform, 616-617 

and the Spanish-American War, 683 

succeeds McKinley, 698 

his career, 699 

and the Trusts, 701-705 

and the Coal Strike, 706-708 

and the Panama Canal, 708-712 

his policy in the Caribbean, 712- 

714 
his "second election," 714-717 
his "second term," 717-722 
in the campaign of 1908, 722-724 
what he thought of his own work, 

725-727 
joins the Progressive forces, 746 
leads the Progressives in the cam- 
paign of 1912, 750-755 
in the campaign of 1916, 774 

Root, Elihu, 714, 738, 752 

Roseerans, General, 461, 475 

Rotation in office, 205 

' < Rough Riders, ' ' 681 

"Rule of reason," 748 

Rumania, 795 

Rumsey, James, 221 

Rural Credits Law, 772 

Rural Free Delivery, 731 

Rusk, J. M., 615 

Russell Sage Foundation, 734 

Russia, 249, 453, 525, 641, 691, 728, 
795, 796 

Rysvvick, treaty of, 41 



INDEX 



847 



Sackville-West, Lord, 641 

Sacramento, 354 

Sacs and Foxes, 349 

Sagadahoc, 27 

St. Clair, Arthur, 165 

St. John, J. P., 587 

St. Leger, General, 83 

St. Louis, 91, 99, 227, 232, 305, 423, 

581 
St. Mary's (Maryland), 22 
St. Mihiel, 792, 796 
St. Philip, Fort, 462 
Salaries, 143, 559 
Salary Grab Act, 559 
Salem (Mass.), 67 
Salem Witchcraft, 52 
Salisbury, Lord, 619, 656 
Salt Lake City, 357, 624 
Samoa, 587, 618 
Sampson, W. T., 683 
San Antonio, 625 
San Francisco, 352, 354, 581, 712, 

728 
San Ildefonso Treaty, 192 
San Jacinto, 325 
San Salvador, 4 
Sanitary Commission, 496 
Santa Anna, General, 325, 336 
Santa Fe, 11, 336, 353 
Santa Fe Trail, 353 
Santiago, battle, 683 
Santo Domingo, 7, 551, 713 
Saratoga, battle, 83-84 
Sault Ste. Marie Canal, 416 
Savanah, 479 
Savannah, the, 259 
' 'Scalawags," 530 
Scandinavians, 542, 580 
Schenectady (New York), 51 
Schleswig-Holstein, 691 
Schley, W. S., 683 
Schools, see Education 
Schouler, James, quoted, 106, 145, 

175, 454 
Scotch Irish, 39, 47, 162 
Scott, Winfield, 359, 388, 445, 446 
Seal-fisheries dispute, 618-619 
Seattle, 622, 728 
Secession, 215, 427-431 
Sedition Act, 178 
Selective Draft Act, 788-789 
Seminoles, 248, 350 
Semmes, Kaphael, 478 
Senate, of the United States, 130-131 
Senators, popular election of, 737-738, 

747 
Separatists, 18 



' ' Seven Days ' Battle, ' ' 464 
Seventeenth Amendment, 738, 747 
Seven Years' War, 53 
Seward, William H., 381, 396, 399, 

410, 433, 452, 503, 525 
Sewing Machine, the, 104, 343, 492 
Seymour, Horatio, 527 
Shackleton, E. H., 728 
Shadrach case, 411 
Shan-tung, 691 
Shays 's Bebellion, 121 
Shenandoah Valley, 39, 464, 481 
Shepard, E. M., quoted, 291 
Sheridan, General, 481 
Sherman, John, 615, 675 
Sherman, W. T., 477-479, 480, 484 
Sherman Anti-Trust Law, 634, 652, 

704, 722, 748, 762 
Sherman Silver Act, 630, 637, 644- 

646, 649 
Shiloh, battle, 460 
Ship-building, 32, 48, 415-416 
Shipping board, 773 
Sigsbee, Captain, 679 
Silver question, 148-149, 554, 570, 
629-631, 643-648, 662-673, 693- 
695, 696 
Simms, W. Gilmore, quoted, 375 
Sims, William S., 786 
Sinn Fein of the sixties, 524 
Sioux Indians, 416 
Sixteenth Amendment, 747 
Slater, J. F., 587 
Slater, Samuel, 305 
Slavery : 

in Virginia, 15 

in South Carolina, 24 

the slave trade, 33, 49, 242, 367, 
382 

in 1783, 94 

and the Ordinance of 1787, 164 

in Indiana and Illinois, 225 

fugitive slave laws, 241 

and the Missouri Compromise, 242- 
246 

abolition movement, 315-320 

the Wilmot Proviso, 358 

statistics of, 363-364 

free negroes, 365-366 

legal status of the slave, 367-369 

conditions of slave life, 369-374 

economic aspects of, 376-377 

the morals of, 374-376 

an overwhelming issue, 378-386 

the Dred Scot decision, 400-402 

Emancipation, 467-471, 510, 511 
Slave trade, 33, 49, 242, 367-368, 382 
Sleeping-cars, 424 
Slidell, John, 333-334, 452 



848 



INDEX 



Smith, Captain John, 27 

Smith, Herbert Knox, 704 

Smith, Hoke, 644 

Smith, Goldwin, quoted, 455 

Smith, Joseph, 356 

Smith, Robert, 187 

Smith, Sydney, quoted, 311, 487 

Smith-Hughes Act, 730 

Smuggling, 50, 54 

"Snappers" and "anti-snappers, 

637 
Socialism, 314-315 
Socialists, 754, 775 
Socialist Labor Party, 641 
Society, gradations in, 100-101 
"Sons of Liberty," 91 
South, the: 

and party lines, 175 .„,- 

balanced against the North, 245- 

246 
and the Tariff of Abominations, 

270-272 
and the Wilmot Proviso, 358 
tipping the scales against, 379, 

427 
and the Compromise of 1850, 385 
in the election of 1856, 398-390 
in the election of I860, 411 
the secession movement, 427-432 
its strength compared with the 

North, 456, 492 
conditions in during the Civil War, 

484, 490-492 
in reconstruction days, 530-532 
prostrated after the Civil War, 534- 

536 
progress in, 576-577 
South Carolina: 

settlement of, 23-24 
during the Revolution, 65, 72, 87 
ratifies the Constitution, 136 
and nullification, 271-274, 282-284 
secedes, 428 

restored to the Union, 521 
in reconstruction days, 531 
South Dakota, 193, 622, 735 
South Improvement Co., 598 
Southern Pacific Railroad, 577 
Soviets, 796 
Spain : 

and the trade of the Orient, 4 
her power in the New World, 

7-8 
her clash with France, 9 
her struggle with England, 9-10 
treaties with, 45, 90, 159, 191, 193, 

248, 685 
and the navigation of the Missis- 
sippi, 115 



Spain: 

and the Oregon country, 230 
cedes Florida, 247-248 
her revolted colonies, 249-250 
War with, 677-683 
Specie Circular, 290-292 
"Spoils system," 152, 268-270, 574- 

575, 589, 616 
Spokane, 622 

Spottswood, Alexander, 39 
Spottsylvania, battle, 480 
Springfield (Mass.), 28, 305 
"Springfield Republican," 426, 

quoted, 493, 647, 652 
"Squatter sovereignty," 391 
Stamp Act, 55-56, 58 
Standard Oil Co., 598-599, 670, 705, 

748-749 
"Standpatters," 742, 746 
Stanton, Edwin M., 443, 521 
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 315, 738 
Stanwix, Fort, 46 
Stanwood, Edward, quoted, 698 
Star of the West, the, 431 
"Star route" frauds, 587 
1 ' Stars and Stripes, ' ' 91 
"Star-Spangled Banner," 214 
Stark, John, 83 
State, the American, 109-111 
Steam, 91, 104, 424 
Steamboats, 221, 296-297 
Steel, 492, 578 
Steel Trust, 701, 761-762 
Stephens, A. H., 429, 503 
Stephenson, George, 299 
Stevens, Thaddeus, 513-514, 522 
Stewart, A. T., 529 
Stewart, Peggy, the, 91 
Stockton, Commodore, 336 
Stony Point, battle, 86 
Stoves, 34, 104, 423 
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 389 
Strikes, 545, 606-608, 639, 651-652, 

706, 727, 773, 804 
Stuyvesant, Peter, 28 
Submarines, 769-771, 776 
Suffrage, 107, 234, 515-516, 528, 549, 

629, 738, 802 
Sugar Act, 54-55 
Sumner, Charles, 337, 392, 397, 513- 

514, 516, 518, 551 
Sumter, Thomas, 87 
Sumter, Fort, 431, 443-444 
Supreme Court of the United States, 

132, 142, 239-241, 401, 749 
Surplus, the, 610, 627 
Sussex, the, 770 
Swedes in Delaware, 25 
Syracuse, 301, 422 



INDEX 



849 



T 

Tacoma, 622 
Taft, William H.: 

Governor of the Philippines, 689 

nominated for President, 722 

elected, 725 

his cabinet, 740 

his administration, 741-745, 747- 
749 

candidate for renomination, 749- 
752 

nominated and defeated, 754-755 
Tallmadge, James, 242-244 
Taney, Roger B., 287, 401 
Tariff : 

under the Confederation, 118 

the first, 143 

of 1816, 237 

of 1824, 255 

of abominations, 266-267, 271 

of 1832, 282 

of 1842, 323 

the Walker Tariff, 331 

of 1857, 412 

the Morrill, 486 

and the growth of manufactures, 
543 

of 1883, 574 

the McKinley, 631-632 

the Wilson, 658-662 

the Dingley, 674-677 

Payne-Aldrich, 741 

the Underwood, 757 
Taussig, F. W., quoted, 613, 742 
Taxation : 

by colonial assemblies, 37, 66 

resistance of Stamp Act, 56 

and representation, 56-58 

external and internal, 59 

under the Confederation, 116 

the powers of Congress to tax, 132 

internal revenue tax, 159, 189, 487, 
556 

income tax, 659, 661, 742, 747, 758 
Taylor, Zachary, 334, 336, 359-360, 

364, 378, 381, 384 
Tea, tax on, 58-59, 63 
"Tea party," the, 63 
Tecumseh, 224 

Telegraph, the, 344, 420-421, 549 
Telephone, the, 579-580 
Teller, Henry M., 665 
Temperance, see Prohibition 
Tennessee : 

settlement of, 47 

admitted as a State, 161 

in the Civil War, 483 

secedes, 448 

restored to the Union, 520 



Tenure of Office Act, 519, 521, 641 
Territory, the government for, 163 
Territory northwest of the Ohio, 166 
"Territory of Jefferson," 417 
Texas : 

the Americanization of, 324-326 

annexation of, 324-328 

and the Compromise of 1850, 378, 
382 

secedes, 429 

restored to the Union, 530 

development of, 624-625 
Thames, battle, 259 
Thayer, Eli, 396 
Theatres, 106 

Theocracy, the Puritan, 21 
Thirteenth Amendment, 511 
Threshing Machines, 96, 342 
Thomas, General, 475, 477 
Ticonderoga, fort, 44, 67, 83 
"Tidal waves," of 1874, 562; of 

1890, 635 
Tilden, Samuel J., 556, 564-567, 571 
Tippecanoe, battle, 224 
"Tippecanoe and Tyler too," 293 
Tobacco, 11, 15, 34 
Tobacco Trust, 705, 748 
Tocqueville, Alexis de, quoted. 313, 

366 
Toledo, 301, 348, 423 
"Toledo War," 361 
Toombs, Robert, 427 
Toleration Act, 23 
Topeka (Kansas), 396 
Tories, 60, 68, 87, 115 
Town, the New England, 31, 38 
Townshend Acts, 58-60, 61 
Tracy, Benjamin F., 615 
Tracy, Uriah, quoted, 194 
Trade Unions, 98, 314, 545, 706. See 

also Labor Organizations 
Transcontinental Railroads, 415, 539- 

541, 577 
Transportation, see under headings, 
Roads, Steamboats, Railroads, 
Canals, Merchant Marine 
Transportation Act of 1920, 802 
Travel, 99-100, 221, 231 
Treaties: 

Aix la Chapelle, 41 

Bunau-Varilla, 711-712 

Clayton-Bulwer, 353, 709 

with France, 84, 177 

Ghent, 216-217 

Greenville, 165 

Gaudalupe Hidalgo, 338 

Four Power, 809 

Five Power Naval Treaty, 809 

Germany, 807 



350 



INDEX 



Treaties : 

Hay-Herran, 710 

Hay-Pauncefote, 709 

Jay's Treaty, 157-159 

Paris (1763), 45, (1783), 90 

Spain (1795), 159, 191, 193, 248, 
685-686 

Ryswick, 41 

Versailles, 798-800 

Washington of 1871, 552 

Webster-Ashburton, 324 

Utrecht, 41, 52 
Trent Affair, 452 
Trenton, 80 
Tripolitan War, 190 
Trolley car, the, 579 
Trotsky, Leon, 796 
Troy, 305, 422 
Trumbull, Lyman, 523 
Trunk lines, 414, 419 
Trusts, the: 

development of, 594-598 

first fruits, 602 

Sherman Anti-Trust Law, 632-635, 
652, 704, 722, 748, 762 

Sugar Trust scandal, 660-661 

platform utterances about, 695, 715, 
723 

Roosevelt and, 701-705 

Bryan and, 723 

legal warfare against, 704, 748-749, 
761 

the Federal Trade Commission and 

the Clayton Act, 760-762 
an unsolved problem, 762 
Trust agreement, 597 
Turks, the, 3 
Turkey, 795 

Turner, F. J., quoted, 256 
Turner, Nat, 318 
Tweed, William M., 556 
"Twilight Zone," 595-596 
Tyler, John, 293, 321-326, 327 



U 



"Uncle Tom's Cabin," 389 

Underground Railroad, 379 

Underwood Bill, 758 

Underwood, Oscar, 753 

Union Pacific Railroad, 539-541, 557, 

624 
United Mine Workers, 706-708 
United States Christian commission, 

496 
United States notes, see Green- 

L) '1 o k s 

Usher, R. G., quoted, 50, 81, 385, 491 



Utah: 

the Mormons in, 356-357 

and the Compromise of 1850, 378, 
382 

made a Territory, 357, 382 

in the sixties, 539 

admitted to the Union, 622 
Ute Indians, 587 
Utica, 301 
Utrecht, treaty, 41, 52 



Vail, Alfred, 344 

Vallandigham, C. L., 500-501 

Valley Forge, 83 

Van Buren, Martin, 286, 288-293, 

326, 360 
Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 599 
Van Renselaer estate, 32, 362 
Van Tyne, C. H., quoted, 84 
Venezuela and Germany, 712 
Venezuela and Great Britain, 655-667 
Vera Cruz, battle, 336 
Vera Cruz, 767 
Verdun, 795 

Vermont, 91, 93, 161, 483 
Verrazano, 11 

Versailles, Treaty of, 798-800 
Vespucius, Americus, 5, 11 
Vicksburg, battle, 474 
Victoria, queen, 587 
Villa, Francisco, 766-767 
Vincennes, 87 
Vinland, 5 
Virgin Islands, 766 
Virginia : 

early history of, 14-16 

westward movement in, 39 

in the French and Indian War, 43- 
44 

pioneers from, 46-47, 223 

during the Revolution, 56, 65, 72, 
88-90 

her claims to the Northwest Ter- 
ritory, 93 

slavery in, 15, 95 

lifo in, 105-107 

and the Federal Constitution, 130, 
136-137 

the Virginia dynasty, 256-257 

secedes, 448 

in the Civil War, 448, 462-466, 
480-482, 483 

restored to the Union, 530 
Virginius, the, 551 
Volstead Act, 801 
Volunteers, :'.:'-4, 446, 484, 788 



INDEX 



851 



w 



Waldseemiiller, Martin, 6 
Walker, E. J., 331, 345 
Walker, William, 412 
Wanamaker, John, 615 
"War Hawks," 209 
War of 1812: 

origin of, 208-211 

America unprepared, 210-211 

the fighting, 212-216 

results, 217 
Wars, see under separate names 
Washburne, E. B., 476, 529 
Washington, City, 183, 214, 258, 581 
Washington (State), 418, 622, 624 
Washington Monument, 587 
Washington, George : 

in the French and Indian War, 43 

joins the Patriots, 60 

ready to support the Bostonians, 65 

in the Continental Congress, 66 

commander in chief, 70 

advocates independence, 71 

in the Bevolution, 78-83, 86, 88-90 

his estate at Mount Vernon, 98 

his wealth, 105 

farewell to his army, 117 

in the Convention of 1787, 127 

elected President, 139 

an estimate of, 140 

his Presidency, 140-160 

text of his farewell address, 167 

and slavery, 241 

and transportation, 297 
\\Tq +o ii c?$\ 4-7 

"Watchful waiting," 766-767 
Waterloo, 259 
Watt, James, 91 
Wayne, Anthony, 86, 165 
Wealth, 105 
Weather Bureau, 549 
Weaver, James B., 638, 640 
Webster, Daniel: 

and conscription, 215 

and free trade, 255 

and Dartmouth College Case, 259 

his reply to Hayne, 273-282 

the Ashburton Treaty, 324 

and Mexico, 338 

and the Compromise of 1850, 383 

passes away, 388 
Weed, Thurlow, 379, 453 
Welles, Gideon, 443 
Wesley, John, 2 
West Indies, 7, 10; trade with, 33, 

49, 50, 55, 96, 115, 361 
Westinghouse, George, 578 
West Point Military Academy, 189 



West Virginia, 448-449 
Westward Movement: 

first steps in, 38-40 

over the mountains, 46-47 

immediately after Revolution, 161- 
166 

between 1800 and 1820, 219-234 

along the Ohio, 223-226 

around the Gulf of Mexico, 226- 
229 

across the Mississippi, 229-231 

significance of the frontier, 231-234 

filling up the West, 301-305 

emigration to Oregon, 329-330 

the Old Northwest and the New 
Northwest, 347-351 

along the Pacific Coast, 351-355 

New Mexico; Utah, 355-357 

in the fifties, 416-418 

in the sixties, 536-542 

the New West, 621-626 

end of, 748 
Western lands, 112 
Weyler, Valeriano, 678 
Weymouth, George, 27 
Wheeling (West Virginia), 162, 220 
Wheelwright, John, 20 
Whigs, 61, 294, 322, 323, 326, 392 
Whiskey Rebellion, 159-160 
Whiskey Ring, 560 
White Plains, battle," 91 
White, William Henry, 750 
Whitney, Asa, 415 
Whitney, Eli, 228 
Whitney, William O, 589, 592, 637, 

665 
"Wild cat" currency, 289 
Wilkes, Captain, 452 
William and Mary College, 37 
William II of Germany, 768, 794 
William III of England, 51 
Williamsburg, battle, 462 
Williams, Roger, 20 
Wilmington (Delaware), 422 
Wilmot, David, 358 
Wilmot Proviso, 358-359, 363 
Wilson, James (of Pennsylvania), 127 
Wilson, James (of Iowa), 740 
Wilson, William L., 658 
Wilson Tariff, 658-662 
Wilson, Woodrow: 

governor of New Jersey, 747 

nominated for President, 753 

elected, 755 

as a political leader, 755 

and the Progressives, 756 

his program of legislation, 757-762 

and Mexico, 766-777 

and neutrality, 767-777 



852 



INDEX 



Wilson, Woodrow: 

reelected, 774 

his war speech, 778-786 

his fourteen points, 793 

in Europe, 798 

and the League of Nations, 799 

his illness, 800 

quoted, 88, 312, 402, 669 
Wilson 's Creek, battle, 449 
Windom, William, 615 
Winthrop, John, 28 
Wirt, William, 286 
Wisconsin: 

its beginnings, 350 

its growth, 418 

Republican party in, 395 

a progressive community, 750 
Witchcraft, 52 
Wolcott, Oliver, 187 
Wolfe, General, 45 
Woman's Christian Temperance 

Union, 641 
Woman 's rights, 362 
Women: 

and higher education, 311, 425, 
583 

during the Civil War, 497 

and equal suffrage, 315, 362, 549, 
738, 800 

in industry, 732, 738 

in the Great War, 790 



Wood, Jethro, 340-341 

Wood, Leonard, 681 

Woolen Act, 32 

Woolen industry, 307 

Worcester, 422 

World 's Columbian Exposition, 642 

"Writs of Assistance," 54 

Wyoming, 193, 540, 549, 622, 624 

Wyoming massacre, 87 



X Y Z affair, 176 



Yancey, Senator, 409, 453 
Yazoo frauds, 258 
Yeardley, Sir George, 27 
Young, Brigham, 356 
York, Canada, 259 
Yorktown, 462 
Yorktown, battle, 88 



Zanesville (Ohio), 254, 296 
Zenger, John, 52 
Zimmerman Note (text), 795 



W61 



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